NASA Hosts Teleconference Today About Curiosity Rover (in 2 hours!)

WASHINGTON — NASA will host a media teleconference at 3 p.m. EST (noon PST) today, Feb. 20, to provide an update on the Mars rover Curiosity mission. This morning, Curiosity engineers confirmed the rover had collected the first-ever sample from inside a rock on Mars.

The Mars Science Laboratory project and its Curiosity rover are investigating whether conditions on Mars ever have been favorable for microbial life.

For teleconference dial-in information, reporters must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Elena Mejia at elena.mejia@jpl.nasa.gov or call NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011.

Audio and visuals of the event will be streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Visuals will be available at the start of the teleconference at: http://go.nasa.gov/curiositytelecon

For information about NASA’s Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl