Final Announcement
February 1997


Sponsors
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lunar and Planetary Institute
NASA Johnson Space Center

Chairs
David C. Black
Lunar and Planetary Institute
    Douglas P. Blanchard
NASA Johnson Space Center


Where and When Online Program and Abstracts Meeting Format
Special Event Messages and Faxes Registration
Hotel Reservations Local Ground Transportation Forms and Information


Where and When

The 28th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference will be held in Houston, Texas, on March 17-21, 1997. Sessions will be held at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). The oral presentation sessions will be held at the JSC Gilruth Center beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, March 17, and ending Friday, March 21, at noon. Poster sessions will be held at the LPI on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. This announcement contains meeting information, a preregistration form, and logistics information for conference participants.


Online Program and Abstracts

The preliminary program and abstracts are available on line. They are in PDF format, viewable with the Adobe Acrobat reader, which you can download free of charge.


Meeting Format

Technical Sessions
Technical sessions will be held at the JSC Gilruth Center and LPI. Parallel sessions for oral presentations will be held in Room A (Room 104), Room B (the old gym), Room C (the new gym), and Room D (Room 206 upstairs). A
Guide to Technical Sessions and Activities is included in this announcement.

Presentations
Oral presentations are scheduled during the conference to allow eight minutes for speaking and seven minutes for discussion and speaker transition. Standard support for dual-screen projection of slides and overheads will be provided in all oral technical sessions. A slide preview area will be available at the Gilruth Center. VCR images can be projected in Conference Rooms A, B, and C. In Conference Room D, a large-screen video monitor will be available. VCR tapes must be 1/2" VHS or 3/4" U/matic.

Poster presentations have been scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the LPI. Authors of papers selected and scheduled for poster presentation are asked to be available to display and discuss their results in the poster area during the assigned time period. Posters may also be viewed at LPI each day of the conference. Shuttle transportation between the Gilruth Center and LPI will be available. Each poster will have a space 44" × 44" for display. Requests for tables, computers, video equipment, etc., cannot be honored due to the limited space available for poster displays.

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Special Sessions

Galileo:  Summary of Mission
On Monday, March 17, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. there will be a special plenary session in Conference Room C at the Gilruth Center. The plenary will feature an invited talk by Torrence Johnson entitled “Galileo:  Year One at Jupiter.” Immediately following the plenary there will be a special parallel session entitled “Galileo Mission Results.” A second special parallel session on Galileo will be held on Tuesday morning, March 18, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Masursky Lecture
The Harold Masursky Lecture Series will continue again this year with a plenary session, to be held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, entitled “Meteorites on Ice and the Mars Connection,” noting the twentieth anniversary of the first U.S. expedition to recover Antarctic meteorites, and the two decades of research that followed. This plenary session will feature two distinguished speakers, William Cassidy and Robert Pepin, who have both contributed significantly to the current state of knowledge on meteorites from Mars.

Life on Mars Special Session
Following the Masursky Lectures on Wednesday afternoon, a special session will be held in plenary that will include invited and contributed talks in a symposium entitled “New Results on the Possibility of Life in a Martian Meteorite.” The symposium will be followed by a panel discussion, “Life on Mars:  Science Issues and Directions,” that will be planned to allow the maximum possible audience participation.

Poster and 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 format provides much more interaction, which is lacking in an oral session; it allows participants to demonstrate some of the projects hands-on rather than simply describing them orally. The education special sessions will be located in and around the LPI library. Authors who require tables, electrical outlets, Internet connections, or any other special support must submit a written request by e-mail (
hager@lpi.usra.edu) or fax (281-486-2186) no later than February 14, 1997. Participants will be expected to provide their own computer equipment.

Stephen E. Dwornik Student Awards
The Stephen E. Dwornik Planetary Geoscience Student Paper Awards are given for the best student research presentations at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Two awards are given annually: one for an oral presentation and one for a poster presentation. The awards are open to U.S. citizens who are currently enrolled as students at any degree level in the field of planetary geosciences. Postdoctoral fellows are not eligible. The winners of the 1996 awards will be announced at the beginning of the Monday afternoon special session, and will be honored at a reception on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in Conference Room A.

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Special Event

The chili cookoff and barbecue dinner will be held on Wednesday, March 19, from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the Landolt Pavilion. Guest tickets for the barbecue dinner will be available at the registration desk for $15 per person. A chili cookoff entry form is included. Out-of-town teams are encouraged to enter. Because the conference staff cannot provide cooking equipment, the “preparation on site” rule common to most cookoffs will be waived to encourage more team participation. The goal of this event is fun, not serious cooking competition. We need more teams to take part in the cookoff, and will cancel the cookoff portion of the event if we do not receive sufficient entries by the February 24 deadline. Join the fun by entering your favorite concoction and compete against other secret recipes. There will be awards for best presentation as well as first-, second-, and third-place awards for the best chili.


Registration

Preregistration
A fee of $50 ($30 for students) will be assessed each participant to cover conference services. You must preregister and prepay by February 24, 1997, to avoid the $20 late fee. Foreign participants who state on the registration form that they have a currency exchange problem may pay in cash at the meeting and avoid the $20 late fee if they return the form by February 24, 1997. Requests for cancellation and a refunded fee will be accepted through March 7, 1997. You can register by completing and submitting either the
electronic registration form or the downloadable registration form.

Note:  Those who fail to attend and do not notify the LPI Publications and Program Services Department prior to the March 7 deadline will forfeit their full fee.

Sunday Night Registration and Reception
The Sunday night registration and reception will take place at LPI from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The location is shown on the map. Shuttle buses will operate from selected hotels to LPI on Sunday night. For those driving rental cars, overflow parking is available at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Registration will continue from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday morning, March 17, at the JSC Gilruth Center. The registration desk will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 8:00 a.m. until noon on Friday.

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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 need to have their embassies contact NASA to make these arrangements well in advance of the conference.


Hotel Reservations

Click here for a list of local hotels. Although making reservations is the responsibility of each participant, we have negotiated reduced rates at some locations. When you call a hotel, you must tell them you are attending the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference and ask for the conference rate. Refer to the area map for the locations of JSC, LPI, and local hotels.


Message and Faxes

A message center will be established in the registration area in the Gilruth Center during the technical sessions. People who need to contact attendees during the conference may call 281-483-0321. The message center will be open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on Friday from 8:00 a.m. until noon. A fax machine will be located at the registration desk for incoming messages only. Faxes should be sent to 281-483-8722. Telephone and fax messages will be posted on a bulletin board near the registration desk.


Local Ground Transportation

Conference Shuttle Services
Conference shuttle buses will provide service between most hotels on the list (see hotel list for exceptions), the JSC Gilruth Center, and LPI. There will be rotational runs in the morning, during lunch, at the close of sessions, and 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. Click here for a
detailed shuttle schedule.

Ground Transportation
No public transportation is available within the local area surrounding JSC and LPI. Taxi service is available to Clear Lake area hotels from both Hobby Airport (~$25) and Intercontinental Airport (~$60); taxi service is also available in and around the Clear Lake area. Shuttle service from both airports is available from Galveston Limousine Service (vans and small buses are used for the airport shuttle). This service offers trips from Intercontinental Airport from 7:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. every 1.5 hours for $18 per person. Scheduled trips from Hobby Airport are from 8:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. every 1.5 hours for $15 per person. Galveston Limousine Service can be reached at 281-286-5466 or 1-800-640-4826.


Forms and Information

For further information, call the LPI Publications and Program Services Department (for information on conference logistics, call 281-486-2158; for information on registration, call 281-486-2142).


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