NASA, Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Host Discussion on Solar Hazards in Exploration

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October 19, 2016  MEDIA ADVISORY M16-123 NASA, Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Host Discussion on Solar Hazards in Exploration   This image, captured in December 2010 by NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, shows a solar filament almost one million miles long. Filaments are elongated clouds of cooler gases suspended above the sun by magnetic forces. They can be unstable and often break away from the surface. Credits: NASA Understanding the hazards of space weather on crewed and robotic missions is vital to informing plans for NASA’s Journey to Mars and other missions into our solar system, and beyond. Veteran NASA astronaut John Grunsfeld and solar experts will discuss that and more during a panel discussion at 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 25. The event will air live on NASA Television and stream on the agency’s website. The panel discussion will take place at the National Air and Space Museum’s Moving Beyond Earth gallery at 6th Street and Independence Avenue S.W. in Washington. The event also will mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s two Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. The twin probes have advanced space weather forecasting more than any other spacecraft or solar observatory and enabled previously impossible early warnings of threatening conditions posed by the sun. The discussion participants are: David DeVorkin, senior curator for the National Air and Space Museum Madhulika Guhathakurta, heliophysicist at NASA Headquarters Barbara Thompson, solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center John Grunsfeld, space shuttle astronaut, scientist and former head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Janet Luhmann, STEREO principal investigator and senior research fellow at the University of California Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory Tamitha Skov, research scientist for The Aerospace Corporation Media interested in attending should contact Alison Mitchell at mitchellac@xxxxxx or 202-633-2376. Media may ask questions during the event in person and by phone. To participate by phone, media must email their name, media affiliation and phone number to Dwayne Brown at dwayne.c.brown@xxxxxxxx by noon Oct. 25. The public also can ask questions on social media using #AskNASA For details on presentation topics, visit: http://s.si.edu/2dyaVii For NASA TV downlink information and schedules, and to view the news briefing, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv More information about STEREO and other NASA heliophysics missions is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/sun -end- NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an e-mail message with the subject line subscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe from the list, send an e-mail message with the subject line unsubscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.