Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC August 6, 1996
(Phone: 202/358-1727)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N96-53

NASA BRIEFING WEDNESDAY ON DISCOVERY OF POSSIBLE EARLY MARTIAN LIFE

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 713/483-5111)

David F. Salisbury
Stanford University, CA
(Phone: 415/723-2558)

A team of NASA and Stanford scientists will discuss its findings showing strong circumstantial evidence of possible early Martian life, including microfossil remains found in a Martian meteorite, at a news conference scheduled for 1:00 p.m. EDT, August 7, at NASA Headquarters, 300 E. St. SW, Washington, DC. The team's findings will be published in the August 16 issue of Science magazine.

Panelists will be:

- Dr. Wesley Huntress, Jr., NASA Assoc. Administrator for Space Science, Washington, DC

- Dr. David McKay, principal author, NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, TX

- Dr. Everett Gibson, NASA JSC, Houston, TX

- Dr. Richard N. Zare, Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University, CA

- Kathy Thomas-Keprta, Lockheed-Martin, JSC, Houston, TX

- Dr. William Schopf, Professor, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Univ. of California, Los Angeles

The briefing will be carried live on NASA TV with two- way question-and-answer capability for reporters covering the event from participating NASA centers. Audio of the broadcast will be available on voice circuit at the Kennedy Space Center by calling 407/867-1260.

NASA Television is broadcast on Spacenet 2, transponder 5, channel 9, C-Band, located at 69 degrees West longitude, with horizontal polarization. Frequency will be on 3880.0 megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

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