UA News

"NOVA scienceNOW" will air a segment about the mission during its July 30 program.

PBS's popular science magazine show "NOVA scienceNOW" will feature a segment on the Phoenix Mars Mission. The segment features a visit by "NOVA scienceNOW" host Neil deGrasse Tyson to the Phoenix Science Operations Center at The University of Arizona and interviews with mission scientists and engineers.

In Tucson, the program will air on KUAT Channel 6 at 8 p.m. Check your local PBS listings for broadcast times in other areas. The program also will be available on the "NOVA scienceNOW" Web site beginning July 31.

"'NOVA scienceNOW' provides a great opportunity to spread the word of our wonderful mission to people interested in science around the country. It was a pleasure meeting Neil deGrasse Tyson and showing him around our operations center. He is a great spokesman for science," said Peter Smith, principal investigator for the Phoenix Mars Mission.

For more than three decades, “NOVA” has brought authoritative, innovative and entertaining science documentaries to television. Now the same award-winning producers have teamed up with Tyson to present multiple stories in a magazine format show.

Each hour-long episode of “NOVA scienceNOW” features Tyson's "Cosmic Perspective" and four fast-paced, timely science and technology stories, including a profile piece on an intriguing personality in the field. In its third season, “NOVA scienceNOW” has covered everything from stem cells to hydrogen fuel cells, from the Tyrannosaurus Rex to the ivory-billed woodpecker, from surgery on pet fish to frogs that freeze solid in winter.