Published: Nov. 29, 1999

Six prominent experts on various aspects of Mars exploration will be available for one-on-one media interviews from 4 p.m to 5 p.m. in room ESCI 265 of the Benson Earth Sciences Building at CU-Boulder on Dec. 2.

The speakers will participate in a symposium titled "Mars, Science, and Society at 7 p.m. that evening in room 100 of CU-BoulderÂ’s Mathematics Building, located south of the intersection of Folsom Street and Colorado Avenue. The symposium is free and open to the public.

The Benson Earth Sciences Building is located just west of the Mathematics Building.

The events are tied to the landing of NASAÂ’s Mars Polar Lander spacecraft on Dec. 3. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics of Denver under contract to NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Experts at the 4 p.m. media event include CU-Boulder astrobiologist Bruce Jakosky, CU-Boulder biologist Steve Schmidt, Lockheed Martin Astronautics flight engineer Benton Clark, NASA Ames geologist and astronomer Pascal Lee, U.S. Naval Observatory science historian Steven Dick and human biologist Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education in Newton, Mass.

For more information call Jim Scott in the CU-Boulder News Services Office at (303) 492-3114 or Janet Clark in the Lockheed Martin Communications Office at (303) 971-2218.