Special, super-duper NASA press conference on Mars today at 2pm EST: space-dudes have something important to announce. Little green men? Large purple women? Flesh-eating bugs? Or maybe traces of water?

Info here:

Significant findings from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, now exploring Meridiani Planum on Mars, will be announced at a press briefing at 2 p.m. EST, Tuesday, March 2, 2004, at NASA Headquarters, Washington.

The briefing will originate from the James E. Webb Auditorium, 300 E St., S.W., Washington, and will be carried live on NASA TV with two-way question-and-answer capability for reporters covering the event from participating NASA centers.

Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator, Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters, will make opening remarks. The panelists include:


Professor Steve Squyres, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Principal Investigator, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Professor John Grotzinger, MER science team geologist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Dr. Benton C. Clark III, MER science team member and Chief Scientist of Space Exploration, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Astronautics Operations, Denver

Dr. Joy Crisp, MER Project Scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Dr. Jim Garvin, Lead Scientist for Mars and the Moon, NASA Headquarters.