NASA Hosts Media Teleconference To Preview Comet Encounter

NASA Hosts Media Teleconference To Preview Comet Encounter

NASA Hosts Media Teleconference To Preview Comet Encounter PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA is hosting a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PDT on Tuesday Oct. 26, to preview the EPOXI mission's upcoming flyby and study of the comet Hartley 2. The Nov. 4 encounter will provide the best, extended view of a comet in history.

The EPOXI mission, which uses the already "in-flight" Deep Impact spacecraft, will pass within approximately 435 miles of the half-mile-wide comet. The spacecraft will use two telescopes with digital color cameras and an infrared spectrometer to examine the dusty, icy body in detail during the flyby.

To participate in the teleconference, reporters must contact the media relations office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., at 818-354-5011 to obtain the call-in number and passcode.

Teleconference participants are:

-- Michael A'Hearn, principal investigator, University of Maryland in College Park, Md.
-- Tim Larson, EPOXI project manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
-- Amy Walsh, EPOXI systems engineering lead, Ball Aerospace & Technologies in Boulder, Colo.
-- Malcolm Hartley, astronomer and discoverer of Hartley 2

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:

https://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio/

SOURCE