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☆ NASA’s Europa Clipper gets the green light to launch
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-09 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The approval was a relief to the Europa Clipper team after the discovery in May of a possible issue with transistors on the spacecraft. Europa Clipper carries 10 science instruments that could determine whether life is possible on another place in our solar system besides Earth. Now, Europa Clipper has been approved to launch, with no changes to the mission plan, goals or trajectory. Exploring an ocean worldWhen Curt Niebur, Europa Clipper program scientist, began working at NASA in 2003, he faced the task of pushing a Europa mission forward. Each year, the effort to get Europa Clipper designed and built has seemed more difficult, he said.

Persons: NASA’s, we’re, ”, Nicola Fox, Jupiter’s, Jordan Evans, Evans, “, ” Evans, Curt Niebur, ” Niebur, It’s, we’ve, That’s, Niebur, Laurie Leshin Organizations: CNN, Clipper, NASA, Europa Clipper, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight, Science, JPL, “, Juno Locations: Pasadena , California, Laurel , Maryland, Greenbelt , Maryland, flybys, Europa, gush

☆ NASA Perseverance rover’s rock find may show microbial life existed on Mars
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-26 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The NASA Perseverance rover may have found a pivotal clue that’s central to its mission on Mars: geological evidence that could suggest life existed on the red planet billions of years ago. “These spots are a big surprise,” said David Flannery, member of the NASA Perseverance science team and an astrobiologist at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, in a statement. But the arrowhead-shaped specimen could help the Perseverance team unlock whether Mars was once a planet hospitable to life. Perseverance rover captured a 360-degree panorama of a region on Mars called “Bright Angel,” where a river flowed billions of years ago. Exploring Mars’ pastSince landing on Mars, Perseverance has crossed Jezero Crater and explored an ancient river delta in search of microfossils of past life.

Persons: ”, David Flannery, haven’t, Mars, “ We’re, Briony Horgan, we’ve, —, Morgan Cable, MSSS “ We’ve, Ken Farley, it’s, Perseverance, Nicola Fox, Bill Nelson, ” Horgan, ” Farley Organizations: CNN, NASA, Queensland University of Technology, Purdue University, Chemicals, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Caltech, ASU, ” Cable, California Institute of Technology, MSSS Geologists, Science Locations: Australia, West Lafayette , Indiana, Mars, Pasadena , California, Cheyava, Pasadena, Neretva

☆ Spots on Mars Rock Share Similarities With Fossilized Life on Earth
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-25 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Did NASA’s Perseverance Rover just discover remnants of ancient life on Mars? Scientists working on the mission are too cautious to claim so, but they are over-the-moon excited about the most intriguing rock that the rover has come across in more than three years of exploring Mars. Within the rock, Perseverance’s instruments detected organic compounds, which would provide the building blocks for life as we know it. The rover also found veins of calcium sulfate — mineral deposits that appear to have been deposited by flowing water. Liquid water is another key ingredient for life.

Persons: we’ve, ” Nicola Fox

☆ NASA is scrapping a moon rover that it spent $450 million to build
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-18 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewNASA is scrapping a moon rover it spent $450 million to construct, and axing the machine's mission to find water on the moon. The agency discontinued the development of VIPER — or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — because it proved exceedingly expensive. According to the Times, the agency would save at least $84 million by not conducting the testing and not having to operate the rover on the moon. Representatives for NASA did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: —, Griffin, Griffin Lander, Joel Kearns, Nicola Fox, — Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore — Organizations: Service, NASA, Business, New York Times, Times, Astrobotic Technology Inc, Pittsburgh —, Boeing, Space, Business Insider Locations: Pittsburgh

☆ NASA Spent $450 Million on a Moon Rover. Now It’s Canceling the Mission.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-17 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

NASA will spend about $800 million to not send a robotic rover to the moon. The rover, known as the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is already built. The launch is still scheduled to take place late next year, but VIPER will not be aboard. However, delays with both the VIPER rover and the privately built spacecraft that was to have landed the rover on the moon’s surface led to uncertainty about the mission’s timeline. “Decisions like we’ve been discussing today are extremely difficult to make,” Nicola Fox, the associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate, said during a news conference.

Persons: we’ve, ” Nicola Fox, ” Organizations: NASA, Exploration Rover

☆ NASA is asking for help to retrieve Mars samples that could be the first evidence of alien life
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is collecting samples that could be evidence of ancient alien life. But NASA's Mars Sample Return mission to bring them to Earth will now cost $11 billion and take two decades. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUNASA's original proposal for the Mars Sample Return is "mind-bendingly complicated," David Parker, director of space exploration at the European Space Agency, said in 2021. AdvertisementAn illustration shows a concept of how NASA's Mars Sample Return mission would launch Perseverance's samples from the surface of Mars. At the current price tag, Mars Sample Return would "cannibalize" other NASA missions, Nelson said.

Persons: —, Nicola Fox, We're, David Parker, Bill Nelson, Nelson, Fox, Lockheed Martin, Northrop, We've, that's Organizations: NASA, Service, Mars Express, ESA, JPL, Caltech, ASU, European Space Agency, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, SpaceX Locations: Berlin, Mars

☆ April’s total solar eclipse will last longer than the 2017 eclipse
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

NASA estimates that 215 million adults across the US saw the 2017 eclipse directly or virtually. This composite image shows the progression of a partial solar eclipse over Ross Lake in Northern Cascades National Park in Washington on August 21, 2017. A whopping 99% of those living across the US, including parts of Hawaii and Alaska, will be able to glimpse at least a partial solar eclipse without having to travel. April’s eclipse will also have longer period of totality than 2017 because of the moon’s proximity to Earth. The 2017 eclipse occurred as the sun neared solar minimum, when the star experiences less activity.

Persons: ”, Nicola Fox, Ross, Bill Ingalls, skygazers, It’s Organizations: CNN, NASA, Science, Observers, Guinness, World Records, WB Locations: Mexico, North America, United States, America, Ross Lake, Northern, Washington, Hawaii, Alaska, Carbondale , Illinois, Torreón, Texas, Economy , Indiana, Canada, Philippines

☆ NASA Announces New Job: U.F.O. Research Director
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A report released on Thursday by a panel convened by NASA does not attempt to provide a definitive answer to that question. Instead, it proposes a bigger role for the space agency in collecting and interpreting data on “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or U.A.P. In response, the space agency announced that it had appointed a director of U.A.P. “NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said in a news release. NASA officials said that part of the reason for keeping the identity secret was the harassment and threats received by panel members during the period of the study.

Persons: ” Bill Nelson, Nicola Fox, “, ” Dr, Fox Organizations: NASA, Washington , D.C, YouTube Locations: Washington ,

☆ NASA created a new position to lead UFO research and appointed somebody, but won't share who it is
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Maiya Focht | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

NASA also created a new position to lead UAP research, but officials won't say who they appointed. NASA officials cited harassment concerns but said they might share the new UAP chief's name someday. As part of its new plan to tackle mysterious phenomena, NASA created a new officer position: Director of UAP Research. That's why I'm announcing that NASA has appointed a NASA Director of UAP Research," Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, said in a press briefing on Thursday. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Persons: Bill Nelson, Bill Ingalls, Nicola Fox, Fox, Daniel Evans, Evans Organizations: NASA, UAP, Service, Navy, Research, UAP Research Locations: Wall, Silicon, Colorado Springs , Colorado

☆ NASA says UFOs are probably balloons, planes, or solar glints — but not aliens
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Maiya Focht | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

NASA says the sightings can be explained by earthly phenomena like planes, balloons, and weather. The announcement comes from a year-long investigation into how NASA can better study UFOs. The report includes suggestions for new ways to study UAP and states that there's no evidence for alien visitors to Earth. AdvertisementAdvertisementWeather balloons could be mistaken for a UAP, NASA said. Spergel said their efforts might include starting a smartphone app to help the public quickly report UAP sightings without stigma.

Persons: they're, there's, David Spergel, Senez Sudio, Bill Nelson, Nelson, James Webb, Nicola Fox, Spergel Organizations: NASA, Service, Pentagon, UAP, James Webb Space, Research Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ How NASA has prepared to scoop up an asteroid sample landing in the desert
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —An asteroid sample stowed inside a NASA spacecraft is about to reach Earth after traveling for nearly 2½ years across space. It’s NASA’s first time collecting and returning an asteroid sample from space. Teams have been rehearsing how to retrieve the sample, originally collected from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, when it drops down into the Utah desert on September 24. Keegan Barber/NASAThe mission’s original goal was to retrieve a pristine asteroid sample. The team has also prepared for different landing scenarios, such as a hard landing where the capsule containing the sample opens unexpectedly.

Persons: NASA’s, REx, ”, Nicola Fox, ” It’s, Keegan Barber, Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS, “, Rich Burns, ” Burns, Burns, Sandra Freund, Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Freund, Molly Wasser, Kevin Righter, curation, Christopher Snead, ” Snead, ” Lauretta Organizations: CNN, NASA, Goddard, University of Arizona, Department of Defense's Utah, Department of Defense’s Utah, Goddard Space Flight, Lockheed, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Space, Apollo, Space Center, Canadian Space Agency, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency Locations: Utah, Bennu, Tucson, Salt Lake City, Greenbelt , Maryland, Houston, Johnson

☆ Webb telescope’s first anniversary image reveals the birth of sunlike stars
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning new image of the closest star-forming region to Earth, located 390 light-years away. The release of the image marks the first anniversary since the space observatory began observing the universe. “Webb’s image of Rho Ophiuchi allows us to witness a very brief period in the stellar lifecycle with new clarity. The most powerful telescope ever sent to space, Webb launched on December 25, 2021, and NASA shared its first set of scintillating images on July 12, 2022. Both have served as the targets of other telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope in the past.

Persons: James Webb, another’s, ”, Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb, “, Bill Nelson, “ Webb, Nicola Fox, Eric Smith, “ Webb’s, Jane Rigby, NASA’s, “ We’ve, we’ve, — Organizations: CNN, Telescope, Telescope Science, NASA, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters, Hubble, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Locations: Baltimore , Maryland, Greenbelt , Maryland

☆ 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

☆ NASA to name solar scientist as agency's science chief, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - NASA has picked a longtime solar scientist who heads its heliophysics division to become the U.S. space agency's science chief, according two people familiar with the decision. Nicola Fox, former top scientist on the Parker Solar Probe mission studying the sun, will be named this week as NASA's associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate, said the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement. Fox will lead NASA's science directorate, a unit with an annual budget of roughly $7 billion that oversees some of the agency's best-known programs from the robotic hunts for past life on Mars to exploring distant galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope. Fox will succeed Thomas Zurbuchen, a Swiss-American astrophysicist who had led the directorate since 2016 before his retirement in December. Sandra Connelly, formerly Zurbuchen's deputy, has been leading the directorate in an acting capacity.

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