NASA, Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Host Discussion on Solar Hazards in Exploration

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Oct 19, 2016, 03:36 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Understanding the hazards of space weather on crewed and robotic missions is vital to informing plans for NASA's Journey to Mars and other missions into our solar system, and beyond. Veteran NASA astronaut John Grunsfeld and solar experts will discuss that and more during a panel discussion at 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 25. The event will air live on NASA Television and stream on the agency's website.

The panel discussion will take place at the National Air and Space Museum's Moving Beyond Earth gallery at 6th Street and Independence Avenue S.W. in Washington.

The event also will mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA's two Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. The twin probes have advanced space weather forecasting more than any other spacecraft or solar observatory and enabled previously impossible early warnings of threatening conditions posed by the sun.

The discussion participants are:

David DeVorkin, senior curator for the National Air and Space Museum
Madhulika Guhathakurta, heliophysicist at NASA Headquarters
Barbara Thompson, solar scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
John Grunsfeld, space shuttle astronaut, scientist and former head of NASA's Science Mission Directorate
Janet Luhmann, STEREO principal investigator and senior research fellow at the University of California Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory
Tamitha Skov, research scientist for The Aerospace Corporation

Media interested in attending should contact Alison Mitchell at [email protected] or 202-633-2376. Media may ask questions during the event in person and by phone. To participate by phone, media must email their name, media affiliation and phone number to Dwayne Brown at [email protected] by noon Oct. 25. The public also can ask questions on social media using #AskNASA

For details on presentation topics, visit:

http://s.si.edu/2dyaVii

For NASA TV downlink information and schedules, and to view the news briefing, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

More information about STEREO and other NASA heliophysics missions is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/sun

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SOURCE NASA