Future Planetary Science Strategy Will Be Rolled Out In Texas

NASA researchers and other scientists will present findings that provide new insights into the evolution of the solar system during the 42nd annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The conference will run March 7-11 at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in The Woodlands, TX.

Key events include the unveiling of future planetary science strategy; early science results from a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency mission, called Hayabusa, that returned the first particle samples from an asteroid; presentations about the recent comet Hartley 2 flyby; and the upcoming MESSENGER mission, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

"The research presented at this conference illustrates the breadth and depth of our increasing understanding of the bodies, processes and events making up our solar system," said Eileen Stansbery, director of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center. "Planetary scientists use this forum to discuss directions for future mission concepts and fields of inquiry to answer new questions uncovered by current research."

Recent results describing evidence for water in the solar system and incorporation into primitive bodies are providing new insights into the evolution of our solar system. Three special sessions will focus on ice processes of terrestrial bodies including Mars, Earth and the icy moons of the outer solar system.

Japanese Hayabusa Spacecraft Artists Rendering

On June 13, 2010, the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft ended its dramatic seven-year mission, returning a tiny capsule containing particles from asteroid Itokawa. It was the first mission ever to return a sample of material snatched from the surface of a world beyond the moon. Examination of the particles began in January of this year, and researchers will reveal results of their initial analyses.

NASA's Deep Impact space probe conducted an extended flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, 2010. The flyby provided a wealth of data for studies of a cometary nucleus. Members of the science team and other collaborators who observed the flyby will present findings.

Volatile species, such as water and carbon dioxide, and nonmetal elements dissolved in magmas have many critical effects on the formation and evolution of terrestrial planetary mantles and crusts. Magmas are mixtures of molten rock, volatiles and solids. A special session will explore contributions from analytical, theoretical and experimental research on a range of topics involving volatiles in planetary interiors and crusts.

Deep Impact As Seen From Hubble

The conference also will include a briefing about the Planetary Decadal Survey at 1730 CST on March 7. The survey is a strategy released by the National Research Council in Washington to prioritize missions, research areas and observations ten or more years into the future. The briefing's featured speaker will be Steve Squyres of Cornell University. He is the survey's chair and principal investigator for NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers.

The conference is hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. The institute is managed by the Universities Space Research Association, a national, nonprofit consortium of universities chartered in 1969 by the National Academy of Sciences at NASA's request.

FMI: www.nasa.gov