2021-02-11
WASHINGTON, February 10, 2021 / PRNewswire / – NASA holds keynote news meetings, live demonstrations, and activities this week February 15th to discuss events related to the landing of the Perseverance rover Mars 2020. Landing on the Red Planet will be about 3:55 pm EST Thursday, Feb. 18. Live landing report will begin at 2: 15f on NASA Television, the agency’s website, the NASA app, and YouTube.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), the focus will be on meaningful opportunities for the media and the public, with on-site personal opportunities at NASA’s Jet Devolution Laboratory in Southern California limited to members of the media who have already received credit.
Sustainability, launch July 30, 2020, finds signs of microorganism life, collects rock and regolith samples (rock and broken dust) for future return to Earth, identifies the geology and climate of Mars, and resolves the path for human study outside the moon. This is NASA’s fifth Mars rover and, if successful, will be the ninth landing on Mars.
Perseverance is also advancing a technological test – the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter – which will attempt the first controlled flight, on another planet.
Television News and Events Schedule
Press releases will come from JPL’s Von Karman Auditorium, but media involvement will be significant. Members of the media wishing to participate in any of the press conferences must contact Rexana Vizza ([email protected]) no later than one hour before the start time of each meeting to ask questions over a telephone line. Members of the media and the public can ask questions on social media through the events using #CountdownToMars.
All NASA TV press conferences will be available on the agency’s website and the NASA app. The information times listed below are East and are subject to change, as do speakers:
Tuesday, February 16th
1f – Press Conference: Engineering and Technology Mission Overview, with:
- Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, NASA Headquarters
- Jennifer Trosper, Deputy Persistence Project Manager, JPL
- Adam Steltzner, Chief Sustainability Engineer, JPL
- Erisa Stilley, Persistence entry, salvage, and landing systems engineer, JPL
- Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations, NASA Space Technology Mission Steering Group (STMD), NASA Headquarters
- Jeff Sheehy, chief engineer, STMD, NASA Headquarters
- MiMi Aung, Innovative Project Manager, JPL
3:30 pm – Press conference: Science Overview, by:
- Lori called, director, NASA Department of Planning Science, NASA Headquarters
- Ken Williford, Associate Scientist of the Sustainability Project, JPL
- Katie Stack Morgan, Associate Scientist of the Sustainability Project, JPL
- Luther Beegle, principal investigator, Raman & Luminescence Instrument Normal Environmental Scan for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC), JPL
- Jim Bell, principal investigator, Mastcam-Z instrument, Arizona State University, Tempe
- Sylvestre Maurice, deputy principal investigator, SuperCam instrument, Institut de Recherche Astrophysique et Planétologie, Toulouse, France
Wednesday, February 17th
1f – Press conference: Landing Mission Update, featuring:
- Lori called, director, NASA Department of Planning Science, NASA Headquarters
- Matt Wallace, Deputy Persistence Project Manager, JPL
- Jennifer Trosper, Deputy Persistence Project Manager, JPL
- Allen Chen, Intrusion persistence, descent, and landing lead, JPL
- Kaitlin Liles, deputy chief engineer, Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) sensory series, NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
- Ken Farley, Sustainability Project Scientist, Caltech, Pasadena, California
3f – Press conference: Discovering ancient life at Mars and in samples returned to Earth, by:
- Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, NASA Headquarters
- Bobby Braun, Mars Sample Return program manager, JPL
- David Parker, director of human and robotic research, ESA European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), Netherlands
- Mary Voytek, NASA astrobiology program director, NASA Headquarters
- Ken Williford, Associate Scientist of the Sustainability Project, JPL
- Libby Hausrath, partner scientist for sample science returned University of Nevada Las Vegas
Thursday, February 18th
2: 15f – A live landing report on NASA’s Public TV Channel and the agency’s website, as well as NASA’s YouTube App, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, and THETA.TV.
In addition, a clean, uninterrupted feed of cameras from within JPL Mission Control, with mission-only audio, will be available at 2f EST on NASA TV Media Channel and at JPLraw YouTube channel.
A 360-degree live stream of Mars landing from within mission control, including a ground report, will be available at NASA-JPL’s YouTube channel.
2:30 pm – “Juntos Perseveramos,” the Spanish language live documentary, on NASA ‘s YouTube channel Español.
About 3: 55f – Expected time of Sustainability orbit on Mars
Earlier than 5:30 pm – Post – landing press conference from Von Karman Auditorium
Friday, February 19th
1f – Press conference: Mission status update
Monday, February 22nd
2f – Press conference: Mission status update
To view press conferences and report online, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/nasajpl/live
A full list of online methods can be found at:
https://go.nasa.gov/3ojDWkj
Interview opportunities
Live animations and remote live interviews via Zoom will be offered from 4 to 7pm EST Wednesday, Feb. 17, and 6am to 12:30 pm EST Thursday, 18 February.
To save a live image window, the media should fill out and submit the form at: https://forms.gle/afTsM9PwHfbgZebX9.
Interview requests outside of these windows can be made by filling out the form at: https://bit.ly/mars-landing-media or by calling the JPL Digital News and Media Office at: 818-354-5011.
Additional resources
The Perseverance landing tool provides additional details on all the activities planned for a landing week, as well as additional links to learn more about the rover and helicopter.
Discover Perseverance Mars 2020 animations and videos and the b-roll media reel, as well as a photo of each entry, descent and landing stage.
News packages for the rover Perseverance and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will take divers deeper into the mission, science and technology.
For more about Sustainability:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
and
https://nasa.gov/perseverance
For more on innovation:
https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter
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