May 13, 2004

Gretchen Cook-Anderson 
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-0836)

Lynn Chandler/Krishna Ramanujan at AGU
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286-2806/AGU Press Room: 514/871-5822) 

NOTE TO EDITORS: N04-068a

NASA SCIENTISTS EXPLAIN AURA SATELLITE MISSION (UPDATE)

NASA researchers will brief the press about the Aura satellite launch 
and discuss science goals of the mission. The press event is at 4 
p.m. EDT, May 17 in Room 522 A, on Level 5, of the Palais des 
Congrès, Montreal. 

The press event is part of the 2004 Joint Assembly, a partnership of 
the Canadian Geophysical Union, American Geophysical Union, Society 
of Exploration Geophysicists, and the Environmental and Engineering 
Geophysical Society. Reporters can phone in to cover the press 
conference. Toll-free U.S. number: 888/322-2413 (Passcode: 31166). 
From outside the U.S.: +1/630/395-0027.

An Aura Workshop follows the press event for Science Writers: A Crash 
Course in Atmospheric Chemistry 101. 

Aura will help scientists understand how atmospheric composition 
affects and responds to Earth's changing climate. The satellite will 
help reveal the processes that connect local and global air quality 
and track the extent to which our ozone layer is recovering.

For more information about the Aura spacecraft and its instruments, 
visit: 

http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov 


http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/instruments/index.html 

For information about NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, visit: 

htthttp://www.earth.nasa.gov 

For b-roll video on the Aura mission, contact Wade Sisler of NASA TV 
at: 301/286-6256.

	
-end-