Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington, DC                July 5, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1753)

William Steigerwald
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone: 301/286-5017)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N01-43

NEXT SPACE SCIENCE UPDATE: A STELLAR APOCALYPSE AIDS THE HUNT 
FOR LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS

     What can a dying Sun tell us about the possibility for 
life on other worlds? As a nearby star burns through the last 
of its fuel and vaporizes its surroundings, it is yielding 
new evidence that planetary systems around other stars can 
support life.

At a Space Science Update, 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, July 11, in 
the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. 
SW, Washington, DC, scientists will present observations by 
the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) that 
support the search for life on worlds outside our solar 
system.

The panelists will be:
*  Dr. Alan Bunner, Science Director, Structure and Evolution 
of the Universe, NASA Headquarters 
*  Dr. Gary Melnick, SWAS Principal Investigator, senior 
astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 
Cambridge, MA
*  Dr. David Neufeld, professor of physics and astronomy, 
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
*  Dr. Alan Boss, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, 
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC
*  Dr. Karen Meech, astronomer, Institute for Astronomy, 
University of Hawaii, Honolulu

The Update will be carried live on NASA Television. Two-way 
question-and-answer capability will be available at 
participating NASA centers. NASA TV is broadcast on GE-2, 
transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees West longitude. 
The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. 
Polarization is vertical and audio is monaural at 6.8 MHz. 
The event will be webcast live at: 

                 Http://www.nasa.gov

Additional information on SWAS is available at:

   http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/swas.html

                           -end-