Media invited to NASA Airborne hurricane mission media day

Media advisory: M12-153

Washington -- NASA is preparing to send unmanned scientific aircraft  over the Atlantic Ocean to study tropical cyclones and the processes  that underlie hurricane formation and intensification. Reporters are  invited to view NASA's Global Hawks and tour the mission control  center at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.,  beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, Sept. 19.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) is a five-year mission that will use two NASA Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles equipped  with instruments to survey the overall environment of the storms and  peer into the inner core of hurricanes to study their structure and  processes. HS3 flights are scheduled to begin in early September and  continue into October.

Reporters will meet HS3 scientists and pilots and learn about NASA's  efforts to better understand these powerful storms. Reporters also  will meet with scientists working on another NASA Earth science  flight mission using a laser to map forests and see Orbital Sciences  Corp.'s Antares rocket under development at Wallops.

To participate in the media day activities, reporters should contact  Keith Koehler at keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov. Registration deadline for reporters who are non-U.S. citizens is Aug. 24 at 4 p.m. EDT; U.S. citizens must register before Sept. 14.

Rob Gutro
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4044
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov