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☆ Returning samples from Mars will require a new plan, NASA says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —NASA is seeking innovative methods that could help retrieve samples collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars in the future. The original design for the Mars Sample Return program, a partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency, was a complex one. Reviews of the program have recommended that the Mars Sample return should not cost more than $5 billion to $7 billion, Nelson said. “Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken. “We are operating from the premise that this is an important national objective that we return the samples,” Nelson said.

Persons: NASA's, Bill Nelson, Nicky Fox, Nelson, “, ” Nelson, ”, Noble, Emissivity, won’t, It’s, Fox, ” Fox Organizations: CNN, NASA, European Space Agency, JPL, Caltech, Budget, Science, VERITAS, Imaging, Radio Science, Fox, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mars Locations: Mars, Pasadena , California

☆ NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will carry a poem and millions of names to ocean moon
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —When NASA’s Europa Clipper aims to launch on its highly anticipated mission to an icy moon in October, the spacecraft will carry a unique design etched with names, poetry and artwork symbolizing humanity. This latest mission is headed to Jupiter’s moon Europa, one of several lunar ocean worlds considered to be the best places to search for life beyond Earth. NASA/JPL-CaltechA planetary legacyEarly NASA probes such as Pioneer 10 and Voyager have continued to inspire the artwork that travels aboard other planetary science missions. “The content and design of Europa Clipper’s vault plate are swimming with meaning,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, in a statement. “We’ve packed a lot of thought and inspiration into this plate design, as we have into this mission itself,” said Robert Pappalardo, project scientist at JPL, in a statement.

Persons: Ada Limón, Ron Greeley, Drake, Frank Drake, ”, Lori Glaze, Robert Pappalardo, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Clipper, Parker, Probe, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ”, US, Arizona State University, University of California, NASA, JPL, Caltech, Planetary Science, Europa Clipper Locations: Pasadena , California, Europa, University of California Santa Cruz

☆ Three new moons discovered orbiting Uranus and Neptune
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have discovered three previously unknown moons around Uranus and Neptune, the most distant planets in our solar system. In the future, the tiny satellite will be named after a Shakespearean character, in keeping with the tradition of Uranus’ moons bearing literary names. He worked with Marina Brozovic and Bob Jacobson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to determine the moon’s orbit. The outer moons orbiting all the giant planets across our solar system — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — share similar configurations. “Even Uranus, which is tipped on its side, has a similar moon population to the other giant planets orbiting our Sun,” Sheppard said.

Persons: ”, Scott S, Sheppard, Marina Brozovic, Bob Jacobson, Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, Chad Trujillo, Patryk Sofia Lykawka, ” Sheppard, Neptune Organizations: CNN —, Carnegie Institution for Science, Planet, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Carnegie Science, Subaru, University of Hawaii, Northern Arizona University, Kindai University Locations: Chile, Pasadena , California, Kea, Japan, Neptune

☆ Mars Perseverance rover loses its trusty scout
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And it’s time to bid farewell to one of the most delightfully plucky robots ever to explore Mars. Other worldsThe Ingenuity helicopter, seen here on Mars in an image taken by the Perseverance rover on August 2, 2023, has flown for the last time. Ingenuity served as the Perseverance rover’s faithful companion and aerial scout for nearly three years since its maiden flight on April 19, 2021. A long time agoAiming to trace syphilis' origins, researchers used paleopathology techniques to study ancient human bones at the site Jabuticabeira II in Brazil's Santa Catarina state. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

Persons: ”, Theodore Roosevelt, Teddy Tzanetos, Thomas Jefferson, it’s, Jose Filippini, Samson Acoca, Pierre, Olivier Cheptou, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, European Space Agency, NASA, JPL, Caltech, University of Montpellier, Hubble, —, CNN Space, Science Locations: Pasadena , California, United States, Brazil's Santa Catarina, Brazil, France, British

☆ NASA Ingenuity helicopter mission on Mars ends after three years
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —After completing 72 historic flights on Mars over three years, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter mission has ended. NASA/JPL-CaltechThe NASA mission team only expected the chopper to carry out five test flights in 30 days. The chopper flew over areas of scientific interest to capture images and help the mission team determine Perseverance’s next targets for detailed analysis. “The Mars helicopter would have never flown once, much less 72 times, if it were not for the passion and dedication of the Ingenuity and Perseverance teams. History’s first Mars helicopter will leave behind an indelible mark on the future of space exploration and will inspire fleets of aircraft on Mars — and other worlds — for decades to come.”

Persons: Perseverance, ”, Bill Nelson, Wright, Laurie Leshin, Nelson, “, Teddy Tzanetos Organizations: CNN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Jet Propulsion, NASA, JPL, Caltech, “, NASA JPL, Caltech Communications, swatch, Wright Locations: Pasadena , California, Mars

☆ NASA mission achieves most distant demo of laser communications across space
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —An innovative experiment flying aboard NASA’s Psyche mission just hit its first major milestone by successfully carrying out the most distant demonstration of laser communications. The tech demo was designed to be the US space agency’s most distant experiment of high-bandwidth laser communications, testing the sending and receiving of data to and from Earth using an invisible near-infrared laser. NASA/JPL-CaltechIt’s not the first time laser communications have been tested in space. The first test of two-way laser communication occurred in December 2021 when NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration launched and went into orbit about 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometers) from Earth. And the Artemis II spacecraft will use laser communications to return high-definition video of a crewed journey around the moon.

Persons: Psyche, DSOC, Hale, ”, Trudy Kortes, Meera Srinivasan, Artemis, DSOC won’t, Jason Mitchell Organizations: CNN, NASA, Optical Communications, California Institute of Technology’s, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Caltech, Space Technology, Psyche’s, Hale, DSOC, NASA’s, Advanced Communications, Navigation Technologies, NASA’s Space Communications Locations: Pasadena , California, DSOC, Wrightwood , California

☆ Solar conjunction halts communications between Mars missions and NASA
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Robotic explorers investigating Mars are currently out of touch with space agencies on Earth after hitting a giant communications roadblock. Mission controllers at NASA won’t send any commands to its fleet of orbiters and rovers, including Perseverance and Curiosity, for the next 10 days due to the Mars solar conjunction. During the roughly two-week period, the hot, energized gas continually spewed by the sun from its outer atmosphere can interfere with the radio signals that NASA uses to communicate with its Martian robotic explorers. A Mars solar conjunction occurs every two years when the sun moves between Mars and Earth. The Ingenuity helicopter, which has largely served as the Perseverance rover’s aerial scout, will also lie low and won’t conduct any flights during this time.

Persons: Mars, NASA won’t, ”, Roy Gladden, “, Perseverance, MAVEN Organizations: CNN —, NASA, JPL, Caltech, Mars, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mars Reconnaissance Locations: Pasadena , California, Gale

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Psyche spacecraft rocketed away Friday on a six-year journey to a rare metal-covered asteroid. SpaceX launched the spacecraft into an overcast midmorning sky from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Scientists envision spiky metal craters, huge metal cliffs and metal-encrusted eroded lava flows greenish-yellow from sulfur — “almost certain to be completely wrong,” according to Elkins-Tanton. Led by Arizona State University on NASA’s behalf, the $1.2 billion mission will use a roundabout route to get to the asteroid. So instead of arriving at the asteroid in 2026 as originally planned, the spacecraft won’t get there until 2029.

Persons: —, NASA’s, “, ”, Laurie Leshin, Jim Bell, Jules Verne, Lindy Elkins, it’s, speck, It's Organizations: SpaceX, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Jet Propulsion, NASA, Arizona State University, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, Arizona, Tanton, Elkins, Utah

☆ NASA launches a spacecraft to visit Psyche, an unseen metal world
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The Psyche mission lifted off at 10:19 a.m. The Psyche mission lifted off Friday morning. “This will be our first time visiting a world that has a metal surface. The Psyche spacecraft will arrive at Mars in May 2026 and use the planet’s gravity to effectively slingshot its trajectory to Psyche. Psyche may have little metal spikes, spires and even tiny pieces that resemble a type of metal sand within the crater, said Elkins-Tanton.

Persons: NASA’s, Chandan Khanna, David Oh, ”, Lindy Elkins, Tanton, ” Elkins, “, Joe Skipper, Henry Stone, Oh, Elkins, Ben Weiss, Psyche, Weiss, It’s, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, NASA, SpaceX, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Falcon, Getty, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Arizona State University’s School of Earth, Exploration, JPL, Caltech, ASU Scientists, Hubble, Reuters, Cape Canaveral Space Force, Mars, Optical Communications, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Locations: Florida, Pasadena , California, Massachusetts, Cape Cod, California, Elkins, Tanton

☆ Mars is rotating more quickly, NASA mission finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Mars is rotating more quickly than it used to, according to data that NASA’s InSight lander collected on the red planet. Initially, the InSight mission, the first to study the interior of Mars, was supposed to last about two years after it landed in November 2018. The InSight mission continued to collect data about Mars until the very end, falling silent in December 2022 after dust blocked its solar panels from receiving sunlight. Researchers then used RISE to measure the wobble of Mars as the core sloshes around inside it. This new figure was compared with previous estimates of the core’s radius that were collected by tracking seismic waves as they traveled through Mars’ interior.

Persons: CNN —, Viking landers, ”, Sebastien Le Maistre, Mars, “, Bruce Banerdt, “ I’ve Organizations: CNN, NASA, JPL, Caltech, Pathfinder, Space, Space Network, Royal Observatory of, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: Royal Observatory of Belgium, Pasadena , California

☆ NASA Reaches Voyager 2 With a Last-Ditch ‘Shout’ Across the Void
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Katrina Miller | More About Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It took an interstellar “shout” across the solar system. But NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Friday that it re-established full communications with Voyager 2, an aging probe exploring the outer edges of the solar system. “After two weeks of not hearing anything, we’re back to getting unique data from the interstellar medium,” said Linda Spilker, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the lead mission scientist for Voyager 2. On Tuesday morning, officials from the Deep Space Network, a worldwide system of radio dishes NASA uses to communicate with various space probes, detected a carrier signal known as a heartbeat from Voyager 2. Nonetheless, being able to pick up only the heartbeat “was upsetting and worrisome,” said Suzanne Dodd, the project manager for Voyager 2.

Persons: ”, Linda Spilker, Suzanne Dodd Organizations: Propulsion Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Space, NASA

☆ NASA’s ‘shout’ restores communication with Voyager 2
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Using a long-shot “shout” maneuver, the Voyager mission team at NASA has reestablished communication with Voyager 2 after losing contact with the spacecraft, which has been operating for nearly 46 years. Commands sent to Voyager 2 on July 21 accidentally caused the spacecraft’s antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth. One radio antenna is located at Goldstone near Barstow, California, the second near Madrid, and the third near Canberra, Australia. It’s not the first time that the aging twin probes — Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, both launched in 1977 — have experienced issues. Voyager 1, which is nearly 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, continues to operate as expected and communicate with the Deep Space Network.

Persons: Suzanne Dodd, Dodd, It’s, —, ” Organizations: CNN, Voyager, NASA, “, Space Network, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Space Locations: Goldstone, Barstow , California, Madrid, Canberra, Australia, Pasadena , California

☆ NASA hears ‘heartbeat’ of Voyager 2 after losing communication
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The Voyager mission team at NASA has been able to detect a signal from Voyager 2 after losing contact with the spacecraft, which has been operating for nearly 46 years. One radio antenna is located at Goldstone near Barstow, California, the second near Madrid, and the third near Canberra, Australia. “We are now generating a new command to attempt to point the spacecraft antenna toward Earth,” Dodd said. Along the way, both Voyager 1 and 2 have encountered unexpected issues and dropouts, including a seven-month period where Voyager 2 and the Deep Space Network couldn’t communicate in 2020. Meanwhile, Voyager 1, which is nearly 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, continues to operate as expected and communicate with the Deep Space Network.

Persons: “, ”, Suzanne Dodd, ” Dodd, ” ‘, ’, It’s Organizations: CNN, NASA, Radio Science, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Space Network, Space Locations: Pasadena , California, Goldstone, Barstow , California, Madrid, Canberra, Australia

☆ NASA’s new telescope could spot thousands of exoplanets and hundreds of Earth-size rogue planets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —When NASA’s next-generation space observatory launches in a few years, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will expand the search for exoplanets as well as rogue planets, or worlds that travel through space without orbiting stars. Understanding these rogue planets could shed more light on the formation, evolution and disruption of planetary systems. This illustration shows what the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will look like in orbit. But rogue planets are likely much smaller. Telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope have enabled astronomers to observe large, glowing gas giant exoplanets called hot Jupiters.

Persons: NASA’s, Nancy Grace, Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's, —, ”, David Bennett, Microlensing, Takahiro Sumi, “, Naoki Koshimoto, ” Sumi, Hubble, Vanessa Bailey, Roman’s, James Webb, Bailey, coronagraph, “ It’s, ” Bailey Organizations: CNN, Hubble, NASA's Goddard Space, Mount John University Observatory, Goddard Space Flight, Osaka University, Engineers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: New, Greenbelt , Maryland, Pasadena , California, Webb

☆ Carl Sagan’s personal master recording of Voyager’s iconic Golden Record goes up for auction
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The master recordings of the Voyager Golden Record still have their original boxes. Courtesy Sotheby'sNow, a copy of the master recording for NASA’s Voyager Golden Record — the one kept by the late astronomer Carl Sagan and his wife, producer Ann Druyan — will be for sale at Sotheby’s New York on Thursday. Both Voyager spacecraft carry a copy of the Golden Record. Each record cover was etched with symbols depicting how to locate the sun and instructions on how to play the record. Engineers can be seen securing the cover over the Voyager 1 Golden Record in 1977.

Persons: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan —, Chuck Berry’s, Johnny B, Goode, Sagan, Frank Drake, Linda Salzman, “, ”, Suzanne Dodd, Dodd, ” Dodd, they’ve Organizations: CNN, NASA’s, Sotheby’s, Columbia Recording, United Nations, Cornell University, NASA, Voyager, JPL, Caltech, Engineers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Neptune, Hulton, “ Locations: York, Senegalese, Peruvian, Indian, Pasadena , California

☆ The unlikely story of the first photo of Mars ever seen on TV
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It was one of a twin set of spacecraft designed to take images of Mars, and the first one failed. Dan Goods/NASA/JPL-CaltechThe transmission was incredibly slow by today’s standards, given that the Perseverance rover regularly sends back batches of high-resolution images from Mars. Together, they revealed craters on the Martian surface and clouds floating above in the atmosphere, both of which surprised scientists. The highest-resolution Mariner 4 image (right) revealed the cratered Martian surface from 7,830 miles (12,601 kilometers) above. JPL/NASAThe snapshots showed less than 1% of the Martian surface, missing the more diverse features on the planet’s surface that later missions such as Viking 1 would capture.

Persons: Pasadena , California CNN —, Mars, “, ”, David Delgado, Percival, Dan Goods, Richard Grumm, Grumm, ” Delgado, William Pickering Organizations: Pasadena , California CNN, Spacecraft, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA’s, JPL, Mariner, Venus, NASA Mariner, NASA, Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: Pasadena , California, High, Pasadena, Flagstaff , Arizona, Goldstone , California

☆ Ingenuity helicopter phones home from Mars after 63-day silence
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —After 63 days of silence, the Mars Ingenuity helicopter is talking again. The mission team anticipated that radio silence might occur. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSSThat’s because Ingenuity communicates with mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, by relaying all messages through the Perseverance rover. And when Ingenuity took off for flight 52, a hill presented an obstacle blocking the helicopter and rover from communicating with each other. But Ingenuity has overcome landing on Mars, survived frigid nights, flying on Mars for the first time and numerous record-breaking flights since, and its journey to explore Mars like never before continues.

Persons: Perseverance, ”, Josh Anderson, ” Anderson, “, ” What’s, It’s, Travis Brown, ” Brown, Ingenuity’s Organizations: CNN, NASA, JPL, Caltech, ASU, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: Pasadena , California

☆ The Dark Universe Is Waiting. What Will the Euclid Telescope Reveal?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At 11:12 a.m. on Saturday, the Euclid spacecraft launched into space on its mission to chart the history of our universe as far back as 10 billion years ago. Researchers plan to use Euclid’s map to explore how dark matter and dark energy — mysterious stuff that makes up 95 percent of our universe — have influenced what we see when we look out across space and time. “Euclid is coming at a really interesting time in the history of cosmology,” said Jason Rhodes, a physicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who leads Euclid’s U.S. science team. “We are entering a time when Euclid is going to be great at answering questions that are just now emerging. And I am certain that Euclid is going to be fantastic for answering questions we haven’t even thought of.”

Persons: Euclid, ”, Jason Rhodes Organizations: Euclid, European Space Agency, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Euclid’s Locations: Euclid’s U.S

☆ Euclid mission: A journey aiming to unravel the universe’s biggest mysteries has begun
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope launched at 11:12 a.m. The Euclid space telescope is seen right before its installation in the nose of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday. Investigating cosmic mysteriesEuclid’s primary goal is to observe the “dark side” of the universe, including dark matter and dark energy. While dark matter has never actually been detected, it is believed to make up 85% of the total matter in the universe. Both dark matter and dark energy also play a role in the distribution and movement of objects, such as galaxies and stars, across the cosmos.

Persons: NASA’s James Webb, Georges Lemaître, Edwin Hubble, Euclid, Nancy Grace Roman, ”, Jason Rhodes, Rhodes, Roman, Yun Wang Organizations: CNN, SpaceX, Cape Canaveral Space Force, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, ESA, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Euclid, California Institute of Technology Locations: Alexandria, United States, Canada, Japan, Pasadena , California

☆ Humans pump so much groundwater that Earth’s axis has shifted, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Humans’ unquenchable thirst for groundwater has sucked so much liquid from subsurface reserves that it’s affecting Earth’s tilt, according to a new study. That shift is even observable on Earth’s surface, as it contributes to global sea level rise, researchers reported in the study published June 15 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Seo and his colleagues had questions about long-term changes to the axis — specifically, how groundwater contributed to that phenomenon. Revealing groundwater extraction’s impactShifts in Earth’s axis are measured indirectly through radio telescope observations of immobile objects in space — quasars — using them as fixed points of reference. The redistribution of groundwater tilted Earth’s rotational axis east by more than 31 inches (78.7 centimeters) in just under two decades, according to the models.

Persons: ”, Ki, Weon Seo, Surendra Adhikari, Adhikari, Seo, ” Adhikari, “, ” Seo Organizations: CNN, Research, Seoul National University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Locations: South Korea, North America, India

☆ NASA’s Juno captures image of ghostly Jupiter lightning
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A NASA spacecraft captured the eerie glow of lightning inside a swirling vortex on Jupiter. The green lightning bolt was seen inside one of the many vortices that cluster near Jupiter’s north pole. Lightning bolts originate from water clouds on Earth, and most of the strikes occur near the equator. The raw images of Jupiter and its moons taken by JunoCam are posted online and available for anyone to process. Juno’s ongoing investigation will help scientists gain a greater understanding of the largest planet in the solar system and its distinctive features.

Persons: Kevin M, Gill, JunoCam, ”, Matthew Johnson, Scott Bolton, Juno Organizations: CNN, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute Locations: Pasadena , California, San Antonio

☆ Curiosity rover captures colorful postcard of Mars
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Curiosity rover has captured a stunning new mosaic that reveals the dramatic, colorful hues of morning and afternoon light on the surface of Mars. One panorama was taken at 9:20 a.m., while the other was taken at 3:40 p.m., both local Mars time. The image is similar to another postcard taken by Curiosity in November 2021. Curiosity has been exploring the foothills of the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer) Mount Sharp at the center of Gale Crater since it landed in 2012. “Mars’ shadows get sharper and deeper when there’s low dust and softer when there’s lots of dust,” Ellison said.

Persons: who’s, ”, Doug Ellison, ” Ellison, Sharp, Gale Organizations: CNN, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sun Locations: Pasadena , California, Gale

☆ Key building block of life found on ocean world orbiting Saturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A key chemical building block of life has been found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. An ocean exists beneath the thick, icy surface of Enceladus, and plumes of material regularly release from geysers at the moon’s south pole. “Previous geochemical models were divided on the question of whether Enceladus’ ocean contains significant quantities of phosphates at all,” Postberg said. “This key ingredient could be abundant enough to potentially support life in Enceladus’ ocean; this is a stunning discovery for astrobiology.”Some of the additional ocean world moons around Jupiter and Saturn include Europa, Titan and Ganymede. Although the building blocks of life and conditions for habitability exist on Enceladus, no actual life has been detected yet.

Persons: ”, Frank Postberg, ” Postberg, Fabian Klenner, “, Postberg, Christopher Glein, Cassini, Linda Spilker, Spilker, ” Spilker, ” Glein, ” “, Nozair Khawaja, Mikhail Zolotov, Zolotov Organizations: CNN, Cassini, NASA, JPL, Space Science, Freie Universität, ATP, University of Washington, Southwest Research Institute, Clipper, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, Arizona State University Locations: Freie Universität Berlin, San Antonio , Texas, Europa, Pasadena , California

☆ NASA’s Psyche mission will launch to an unexplored metal world this fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The endeavor, known as the Psyche mission, was originally expected to lift off in 2022. But the launch window opened on August 1 and closed October 11 before the spacecraft’s flight software was ready. The analysis included ways to address issues with the mission as well as “JPL institutional issues” that caused the delay. This rendering shows how scientists think the Psyche asteroid appears up close. Rubin/NASA/JPL-CaltechThe Psyche asteroid is so metal-rich, some scientists believe it’s the exposed core of a planetesimal, or a planet in the making that separated into layers.

Persons: “, ”, Laurie Leshin, ” Leshin, Peter Rubin The, ’, Nicola Fox, Psyche, Rubin Organizations: CNN, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, JPL, Engineers, Caltech, Arizona State Univ, Systems Locations: Pasadena , California, Florida, Arizona

☆ Perseverance rover captures new images of ancient river evidence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The Perseverance rover has captured new images that appear to reveal geologic evidence of a fast-flowing river that fed into Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient Martian lake. The bands of rocks in this image of "Skrinkle Haven" taken by the Perseverance rover may have been formed by a fast-flowing river. The rover also captured a mosaic of "Pinestand," where layers of sedimentary rock could have been formed by a deep, fast-flowing river. The Perseverance team is also analyzing other images taken by the rover. We struggle even with early Earth rocks to answer this question.

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