NASA to Host Dec.13 Teleconference on Twin Probes Mission Ending Moon Impact

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA will host a media teleconference at 10:30 a.m. PST (1:30 p.m. EST) Thursday, Dec. 13, to provide an overview of events leading up to twin spacecraft being commanded to impact the moon’s surface on Dec. 17 at approximately 2:28 p.m.

NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, whose two washing machine-sized probes were named Ebb and Flow by elementary school students in Bozeman, Montana, via a nationwide contest, have successfully completed their prime missions and have only days to go on their extended mission science collection. As planned, the duo is running low on fuel. They have been orbiting the moon since New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, respectively, giving scientists unprecedented detail about the moon’s internal structure and composition.

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 www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail