March 18-22, 1996

This year's conference will begin with a reception and registration Sunday, March 17, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Registration will continue beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning, March 18, at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Sessions will be held at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, March 18, and ending Friday, March 22, at noon.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Technical Sessions

Technical sessions will be held at the Gilruth Center. Parallel sessions will be held in Room A (Room 104), Room B (the old gym), Room C (the new gym), and Room D (Room 206 upstairs). The preliminary program and first paragraph of the abstracts accepted for the conference are available on line. Instructions for accessing this online information are included in this article.

Poster Presentations

Poster sessions have been scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30 at the LPI. Authors of poster presentations will be available to discuss their results in the poster area during the assigned sessions. Additionally, posters may be viewed at LPI each day of the conference. Shuttle transportation between the Gilruth Center and LPI will be available throughout the week.

SPECIAL SESSIONS

Harold Masursky Lecture

The Harold Masursky Lecture will be presented in a special plenary session at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 18, 1996. This year's talk, Probing Questions About Jupiter, will be given by Dr. A. P. Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology.

Mars Deep Interior Geochemical and Geophysical Constraints-Special Session

Though rather detailed models have been constructed for the internal stratification of Mars, they are based on relatively few direct constraints. A number of recent developments suggest that now is a good time to reconsider some aspects of these models. Significant recent progress has been made on high-temperature and high-pressure equations of state and phase relations in candidate Mars mantle and core materials. Also, although current estimates of the moment of inertia of Mars are still model dependent, planetary orbiter and lander missions planned for the next few years will dramatically change that situation. New results relevant to the deep internal structure and composition of Mars based on laboratory experiments, spacecraft data, or modeling results will be presented in The Mars Deep Interior Special Session on Tuesday, March 19, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Galileo Mission to Jupiter Results from Encounter-Special Session

The Galileo probe entered the atmosphere of Jupiter on December 7, 1995. The orbiter explored the jovian system during approach and will continue to do so for almost two years. Invited talks reporting preliminary results from this historic encounter will be given in The Galileo Special Session on Monday, March 18, at 2:30 p.m. following the Masursky Lecture.

Special Poster/Display Sessions on Education

Two special poster/display sessions on education will be held at LPI on Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the regular technical poster sessions. The education special sessions will be located in and around the LPI library and will include posters, displays, computer demos, and hands-on activities.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Chili Cookoff and Barbecue Dinner

The Chili Cookoff and Barbecue Dinner will be held on Wednesday from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the Landolt Pavilion. Out-of-town teams are encouraged to enter. Guest tickets may be purchased for $10.

Reception for Award Winners

A reception will be hosted by GSA on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in Conference Room A. The 1995 winners of the Stephen E. Dwornik Student Paper Awards will be honored at this time.

Computer Demonstrations and E-Mail Stations

All computer stations for demonstrations, displays, exhibits, and e-mail will be located at the LPI. The main displays will be located in the Center for Information and Research Services (library). Several stations will be available to participants for checking e-mail. The conference shuttle buses will make regular stops at LPI during the conference.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM ON LINE

The program and first paragraph of abstracts for the 27th LPSC are currently available on line. Late- breaking news or announcements about the conference will be posted, so we encourage you to check the LPI's home page on a regular basis.

HOW TO GET THERE

World-Wide Web Access

If you are using an Internet information browser like NCSA Mosaic, the URL for LPI is:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi.html

Internet Access

At your system's prompt, type:

telnet cass.jsc.nasa.gov
or
telnet 192.101.147.17

The username prompt should be displayed. Use only lower-case characters for logging onto this account.

USERNAME: cass
PASSWORD: online

Modem Access

For modem access (at 14.4K/9600 bps), DEC VT series terminal emulation (100 and above) is required.

713-244-2089
or
713-244-2090

Press < ENTER> until you receive the username prompt. Use only lower-case characters for logging onto this account.

For questions about the online abstracts and program, contact:

LeBecca Simmons
phone: 713-486-2158
e-mail: simmons@lpi.usra.edu

For help in accessing the LPI computer, contact:

Kin Leung
phone: 713-486-2165
e-mail: webmaster@lpi.usra.edu

SECURITY/BADGES

Your conference badge will permit access to JSC at all gates, to the Gilruth Center where conference sessions will be held, and to the travel office in JSC Building 1. Foreign nationals who wish to visit JSC Building 31 or other nonpublic areas at JSC should have their embassies contact NASA to make these arrangements well in advance of the conference.

CONFERENCE SHUTTLE SERVICES

Conference shuttle buses will provide service between selected hotels (Nassau Bay Hilton, Days Inn, Holiday Inn, Ramada Kings Inn, Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Motel 6, and Best Western), the JSC Gilruth Center, and LPI. There will be rotational runs in the morning, during lunch, at the close of sessions, and to and from these hotels during special events. Computer displays, exhibits, poster sessions, and other conference-related events will be located at LPI; shuttle buses will make hourly stops there throughout conference week. Your conference badge will serve as your bus ticket.

LOCAL GROUND TRANSPORTATION

Ground transportation from Houston Intercontinental and Houston Hobby Airports to the local area hotels at a reasonable cost is available through two shuttle services.

AAA Shuttle charges approximately $10 one-way from Hobby Airport and $15 one-way from Intercontinental Airport. Service is limited to three trips per day from each airport. The scheduled departures from Intercontinental are at 7:40 a.m., 11:15 a.m., and 2:45 p.m. The scheduled departures from Hobby are at 8:20 a.m., 11:50 a.m. and 3:20 p.m. The telephone number for AAA Shuttle is 713-338- 7133.

Service from both airports is also available through Galveston Limousine Service (vans and small buses are used for the airport shuttle). This services offers trips from Intercontinental Airport from 7:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. every 1.5 hours. The scheduled trips from Hobby Airport are from 8:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. every 1.5 hours. The rate from either airport for a one-way trip is $15. The telephone numbers for Galveston Limousine Service is 713-286-5466 (Houston line) or 1-800-640-4826.

No public transportation is available within the local area surrounding NASA Johnson Space Center. Taxi service is available from the airports and in the local area. Taxi service rates are $20-25 dollars from Hobby Airport or $50-60 from Intercontinental Airport.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Please contact the LPI Publications and Program Services Department at 713-486-2166 for further information about conference logistics.