<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission - April 17, 2013</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>NASA Mars Orbiters Have New Project Managers</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">"</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">PASADENA, Calif. -- Two NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars, both working long past their original prime missions, have new project managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Dan Johnston is the new project manager for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and David Lehman is now project manager for NASA's Mars Odyssey.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Johnston has worked on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission from its inception in 2000, through launch in 2005 and during operations in Mars orbit since 2006. He was the mission's design manager during development. Later roles have included mission manager and, since 2010, deputy project manager.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Johnston, a Louisiana native, earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas, Austin, worked in private-industry support of NASA space shuttle mission operations, and joined JPL in 1989. He lives in La Crescenta, Calif.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned more data than all other Mars missions combined, observing Mars' surface, subsurface and atmosphere in unprecedented detail and radically expanding our knowledge of the Red Planet.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"The project's major challenge is to balance the science that the mission is continuing with the needs for serving as a communication relay for rovers," Johnston said. "Keeping the orbiter in service is our number-one priority."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Lehman managed NASA's twin-spacecraft Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Project from its inception in 2006 through the 2012 completion of its work orbiting Earth's moon.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Lehman's career has taken him from undersea to deep space. Before joining JPL in 1980, he was a U.S. Navy submarine officer. At JPL, his accomplishments have included managing NASA's Deep Space 1 Project, which tested 12 innovative technologies, such as ion propulsion and autonomous navigation, on its way to an asteroid flyby. Lehman holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from Colorado State University, Fort Collins. The New Mexico native now lives in Pasadena, Calif.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Mars Odyssey has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2001, began systematic science observations there in early 2002, and broke the previous record for longest-working Mars spacecraft in December 2010. The mission's longevity enables continued science, including the monitoring of seasonal changes on Mars from year to year, in addition to communication-relay service for Mars rovers.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Lehman said, "Odyssey is a major asset for NASA's Mars Program both for its science and as a relay. There is a lot of work being done by a lean team to keep it running smoothly.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">"</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">All of the HiRISE images are archived here: <a href="http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">More information about the MRO mission is available online at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mro"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://www.nasa.gov/mro</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span></div></body></html>