NASA Invites Media to Briefing on Next Earth-Observing Mission

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media briefing at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, April 30, to discuss the upcoming launch of a mission that will provide unique insights into our planet's changing climate and Earth system processes, and have far-reaching benefits to society, such as improving water resource management.

The briefing will be held at NASA Headquarters at 300 E St. SW in Washington, and air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission will measure and monitor monthly changes in how mass is redistributed within and among Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land and ice sheets, as well as within Earth itself.

The briefing participants are:

• David Jarrett, GRACE-FO program executive in the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters
• Michael Watkins, GRACE-FO science lead and director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
• Frank Webb, GRACE-FO project scientist at JPL
• Phil Morton, NASA GRACE-FO project manager at JPL
• Frank Flechtner, GRACE-FO project manager for the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), in Potsdam, Germany

Media wishing to participate by phone must send an email with their name, affiliation and phone number to Dwayne Brown at [email protected] by noon April 30.

Media with U.S. citizenship may register to attend the briefing in person by emailing Steve Cole at [email protected] by 5 p.m. Friday, April 27.

Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

GRACE-FO is scheduled to launch May 19 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as a "rideshare" on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying five Iridium communications satellites. GRACE-FO is a partnership between NASA and GFZ.

For more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/gracefo

SOURCE NASA