Don Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC                   March 14, 1997
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

Linda Copley
Johnson Space Center, Houston TX
(Phone:  281/483-5111)

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N97-18

PRESS BRIEFING TO PRESENT NEW DATA AND STATUS OF 
'PAST LIFE ON MARS' DEBATE SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 19

       Seven months after NASA's initial announcement 
suggesting that a Martian meteorite shows life may have 
existed on ancient Mars, a panel of science experts will 
present new data and deliver a progress report on the 
continuing "Past Life on Mars" discussion at a press briefing 
scheduled for 1 p.m. EST, Wednesday, March 19, in the media 
briefing room at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, TX.  

       Douglas P. Blanchard, Ph.D., Chief of JSC's Earth 
Science and Solar System Exploration Division, will moderate 
a six-person panel of co-authors of each of the six abstracts 
on the Mars issue that are scheduled for presentation later 
that day during a special plenary session of the Lunar and 
Planetary Science Conference in the adjacent Teague 
auditorium at JSC.

       The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television 
with two-way question and answer capability from 
participating NASA centers.  As of March 15, NASA Television 
will be broadcast at a new satellite location.  The new 
satellite is GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees West 
longitude, frequency 3880.0 MHz, audio 6.8 MHz.

       The text of complete abstracts to be presented may be 
obtained in advance of the event by contacting the web site 
for the 28th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference at URL: 

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/LPSC97

     The conference  will be held March 17-21, 1997 in 
Houston.  Sessions will be held at JSC and the Lunar and 
Planetary Institute (LPI), 3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, TX. 


(Note: the web address above was updated in 2002 to reflect the 
current LPI website)