Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC December 1, 2000
(Phone: 202/358-1727)

Mary Hardin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-0344)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N00-058

MAJOR MARS DISCOVERY TO BE ANNOUNCED AT DEC. 7 SCIENCE BRIEFING

Imaging scientists Dr. Michael Malin and Dr. Ken Edgett from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft will present what they describe as their most significant discovery yet at a Space Science Update at 2:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 7. Their findings are being published in the December 8 issue of Science Magazine.

This science update will be held in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St., S.W., Washington, DC, and will be carried live on Telstar 5, transponder 11. The Ku-band satellite is located 97 degrees West longitude with a downlink frequency of 11929 MHz, vertical polarity.

Please note that, due to coverage of the ongoing Shuttle mission, NASA Television does not expect to carry this briefing, and two-way question-and-answer capability from agency centers will not be available.

Participants will be:
* Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, DC., will be panel moderator.
* Dr. Michael Malin principal investigator, Mars Orbiter Camera on
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft at Malin Space Science
Systems (MSSS), San Diego, CA.
* Dr. Ken Edgett, staff scientist at MSSS.
* Dr. Jim Garvin, Mars Exploration Program Scientist at NASA
Headquarters.
* Dr. Ken Nealson, director of the Center for Life Detection at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.