NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: Mar. 8, 2000

Media Advisory m00-45

SUMMARY

NEWS RELEASES:

HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES SHOW BIG DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MARS POLAR

CAPS

VIDEO:

VIDEO FILE:

ITEM 1 - MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES SHOW BIG

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MARS' POLAR CAPS- JPL

ITEM 2 - GALILEO SPACECRAFT GETS THUMBS UP TO CONTINUE EXPLORING

JUPITER

NOTES FOR PRODUCERS:

THE "CHEESY" SIDES OF MARS LIVE INTERVIEWS ON THURSDAY, MARCH 9

NEW MARS IMAGES AND LIVE INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES ABOUT MARS ON

FRIDAY, MARCH 10

LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK

------------------------

VIDEO PRODUCERS NOTE: THE "CHEESY" SIDES OF MARS LIVE INTERVIEWS

ON THURSDAY:

FROM: Jack Dawson, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, (818) 354-0040

NEW NASA IMAGES REVEAL THE 'CHEESY' SIDES OF MARS

New images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft show the
red planet's North Pole looks like cottage cheese, while the South
Pole resembles Swiss cheese, leaving scientists hungry for answers
about how the two regions evolved so differently.

Scientists publishing a paper in the journal Nature on March 9 say

closeups of the North polar cap of Mars show a relatively flat,
pitted surface that resembles cottage cheese, while the South
polar cap has larger pits, troughs and flat mesas that give it a
holey, Swiss cheese appearance. The pitted look of the South pole
is seen nowhere else on Mars. This leads scientists to speculate
that these strange landforms may mean the South polar region is
dominated by dry ice, while the North polar cap is mostly water
ice.

On Earth plant life and the oceans remove and recycle carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere. But on Mars, which has neither plant
life nor oceans, there should be a lot more carbon dioxide found
in its atmosphere. Mars Global Surveyor, in orbit around Mars
since September 1997, has returned a wealth of new findings about
the red planet. The mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, DC.

Live satellite interview opportunities are available with

planetary scientist Dr. Andy Ingersoll from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. EST
on Thursday, March 9. B-roll and interviews will be carried on
GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, with vertical
polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz with audio on 6.8
megahertz. Emergency telephone numbers are 818/354-0246 and
818/354-2113.

6-10 a.m. EST - Dr. Andy Ingersoll is a Caltech professor of

planetary science and coauthor of the Nature paper. With
expertise in comparative planetology, weather and climate and
global change, Ingersoll relates the new Mars findings to studies
of Earth's atmosphere. The new findings may be an indication that
the missing carbon dioxide on Mars is locked up as dry ice in the
South polar region. Ingersoll earned his bachelor's degree from
Amherst College in Massachusetts, and his master's degree and
doctorate from Harvard University. At Caltech since 1966,
Ingersoll has been on the science teams of numerous robotic
missions to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS:

* What do these findings tell us about the Martian past?

* If Mars once had abundant water, where did it go?
* Why does Mars have a carbon dioxide atmosphere while Earth's is
mostly nitrogen?
* How does studying Mars' climate history help us understand
Earth's environment?

------------------------

VIDEO PRODUCERS NOTE: NEW MARS IMAGES ON FRIDAY:

TAKE A 3-D TOUR OF A MYSTERIOUS, HIDDEN MARS
--"Don't wait for the Movie"

On Friday, as Hollywood launches millions of moviegoers on a

fictional adventure to Mars, NASA will release striking new 3-D
images of the real Mars. The new images allow scientists to look
beneath the surface of Mars and provide a window into Mars'
geologic past--a window that reveals tantalizing clues into the
evolution of some of the most puzzling surface features of any
planet in our solar system.

Planetary Scientist Dr. Jim Garvin will be available to discuss

the images Friday, March 10, from 6:00 - 11:00 a.m. EST. The
interviews come to you from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, MD.

Ask Jim about the 3-D images:

- Mission to Mars is another in a long series of Mars movies.

What do you think is behind public's fascination with Mars?
(Video: 3-D Flyover Mars Montage of Valleys, Mars Surface)

- What excites Scientists at NASA about studying Mars? (Video:

Polar Caps)

- How do the most recent images allow scientists to see inside the
red planet? (Video: Mars Window)

- What do the new images say about Mars' early past? (Video:
Inside Mars)

- Why are scientists interested in finding water on Mars? (Video:

Mars B-Roll)

- How are the 3-D Images Created? (Video: 3-D Flyover)

Book a window: Deanna Corridon (301-286-0041;

corridon@pop100.gsfc.nasa.gov) or Wade Sisler 301-286-6256, 888-
474-0914 pager, wsisler@pop100.gsfc.nasa.gov). Basic window is
four minutes long with a one-minute transition.

Roll-ins/B-roll: It is recommended that we roll the short video

sequences for you so our talent can see and talk to the visuals.
We will also uplink B-roll at 5:50 a.m. EST on Friday, March 10.

NASA-TV: The interview will take place on NASA-TV. NASA

Television is available on GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees West
longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0
megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

------------------------

LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS THIS WEEK:

March 9, Thursday

*5:30 - 10:00 am - Mars Global Surveyor Images of the North and

South Pole of Mars Live News Interviews - JPL

*1:00 pm - Backside of the Sun Space Science Update - HQ

5:00 - 7:00 pm - KC-135 Student Campaign Live News Interviews -

JSC

March 10, Friday

5:00 - 11:30 am - Latest Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA)
Images Live News Interviews - GSFC

March 11, Saturday

8:00 am - 5:00 pm - Kennedy Space Center Southeast Regional First

Robotics Competition - KSC

*****************************

NEWS RELEASES:

HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES SHOW BIG DIFFERENCES

BETWEEN MARS POLAR CAPS

New high-resolution images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor

spacecraft comparing the ice caps at the North and South poles
show the difference between the two regions is in the "cheese."
The North polar cap has a relatively flat, pitted surface that
resembles cottage cheese, while the South polar cap has larger
pits, troughs and flat mesas that give it a holey Swiss-cheese
appearance.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage

(Phone 202/358-1547).
Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary
Hardin (Phone 818/354-5011).
Contact at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: David Brand (Phone:
607/255-3651).
Contact at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA:
Robert Tindol (Phone: 626/395-3631).

For full text, see:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-035.txt

-----------------------------

If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will e-

mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 2000 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/2000/index.html

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html

*****************************
VIDEO:

Unless otherwise noted, ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN.

ANY CHANGES TO THE VIDEO LINE-UP WILL APPEAR ON THE NASA VIDEO
FILE ADVISORY ON THE WEB AT
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/tv-advisory/nasa-tv.txt
WE UPDATE THE ADVISORY THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

The NASA Video File normally airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m.
and midnight Eastern Time.

NASA Television is available on GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees

West longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0
megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

Refer general questions about the video file to NASA Headquarters,

Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, or Fred Brown,
202/358-0713, fred.brown@hq.nasa.gov

During Space Shuttle missions, the full NASA TV schedule will

continue to be posted at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html

For general information about NASA TV see:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/

*****************************

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Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition information

Service Web site: http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html

*****************************

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*****************************

end of daily news summary