The hacking group Anonymous believes that Nasa is on the verge of announcing proof of alien life. For years, the space agency has been trawling through the universe, probing galaxies and solar systems, sifting through cosmic dust, spending millions if not billions searching for beings that did not originate on planet Earth.

Really, they neednt have bothered. I could have told them about my first alien encounter for free. It happened three years ago at a gala, where the great and good of London were gathered. Towards the end of the evening, a prominent politician gave a speech. He moved the crowd to laughter and cheers with his textbook public-school delivery and his cultivated, dishevelled charm. When he descended from the stage, a swarm of fans surrounded him.

I too drew closer to gawp at the embodiment of power and celebrity. And that was when I saw it. The waxy pallor of his face: a close approximation but not quite accurate simulacrum of human skin. The jerky movements that added comedy on stage but now seemed out of place in the personal conversations he was having. And lastly the eyes: dead and lifeless. The alien inside had fallen asleep and put his body suit onautopilot.

Since then, Ive observed that alien life forms seem to drift towards politics. From Washington to New Delhi to Nairobi, the aliens are on the rise and plotting world domination every night in their secret Twitter language of covfefe. One only has to look at the state of the planet climate change out of control, never-ending wars, refugee crises to agree that extra-terrestrials determined to destroy it must be running things.

And they are getting bolder. The Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, has been missing for over a month on sick leave. Nothing has been heard from him, except an audio clip. Perhaps Anonymous will soon confirm my suspicions that there has been analien abduction.

Before space exploration and Arthur C Clarke, the word alien just meant foreign. So when you read in the Bible, Be kind to the alien in your midst, the translator meant be nice to migrants, not look out for ET.

Alien people like myself may not be too popular in the UK these days but alien lifestyles are certainly trending. Last year we had the Danish art of hygge, a lifestyle that nobody could pronounce but which had something to do with spending the winter months in cosy indoor spaces, eating and drinking with friends and knitting.

Now, hygge has a Japanese challenger called ikigai, which means a reason for living. Its a bit more complicated than hygge because you need a Venn diagram to work it out, but its supposed to be far more rewarding.

May I suggest a third contender for the lifestyle Olympics: African home training. AHT is a mixture of discipline, respect for elders, strict attention to personal hygiene and even stricter attention to educationalexcellence.

Once on the Tube, I saw two boys chewing up wads of newspaper and spitting them at a carriage full of adults. Not one person said a word, including me. But what I thought was that these young lads needed a good dose of AHT.

African home training is administered from childhood by parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and anyone at least two years older than you. Never fear if you missed out: you can hire a live-in African grandma to set you straight. Mine is going for a reasonable rate.

One skill AHT failed to impart to me, however, was early potty training. I wore nappies until I was old enough to read. If only my parents had known about elimination communication training a baby to use a toilet from birth.

A new article has been published on the benefits of going nappy-free. These include an end to nappy rash and a cleaner environment. Its practitioners point out that, in the developing world, babies are potty-trained without nappies. Its a shame my Nigerian parents, born and bred in the developing world, did not get the memo. Good thing I have nieces and nephews to test on.

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Has Nasa found aliens? They're already here - The Guardian

Although in recent years, the government has seemed less invested in sending men and women into space, the desire to dress like an astronaut is on the rise. Thanks to films such as Hidden Figures and The Martian, combined with a return of 70s-inflected fashion, NASA-inspired clothing is popping up all over. Coachs Space collection is the latest in a growing trend of fashion designers creation of NASA-inspired items from flight jackets to T-shirts to yes, fancy purses. Like Topshop and Urban Outfitters before them, Coach incorporates the official logos of NASA into their collection while adding some original designs of their own, including Space Rexy, a whimsical Tyrannosaurus rex sporting a space helmet and jetpack.

But how do fashion brands get permission to use the NASA logos? Unlike other collaborations, there is no licensing process or licensing fee to be paid, since NASA is a government agency. No share of profits makes its way to NASA.

But thats not to say that anyone can use the NASA logo whenever they please. In order to obtain permission to use the logo, a company must submit designs to the Multimedia Division of NASA's Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington, where Bert Ulrich, multimedia liaison, reviews them. The regulations for advertising requests are strict, but Ulrich willingly works with companies in order to have their requests improved. I work a lot with our legal office, Ulrich says, and as a government entity, we dont license out, but we have authority to approve designs because of the code of federal regulations.

So what happens if someone uses the logo without permission? Ulrich says, Ill send on to the legal department for a cease and desist letter. These are sent out from time to time, but usually we just ask the company to make their use permissible.

There are two licensed logos, known colloquially as The Meatball and The Worm. The first, the Meatball, dates back to 1959 and was the first official insignia of the agency. Designer James Modarelli designed the seal, which includes white stars, an orbital path on a round field of blue, a red chevron meant to represent wings, and then the NASA lettering. But in 1974, then-President Richard Nixon decided that along with symbols of other government agencies, the NASA logo needed a makeover, and New York ad agency Danne & Blackburn was commissioned to design a new logo, which is how the Worm was born.

The Worm design reflects the aesthetic of the time. A simple line design, with no crossbars on the As, transmitted a futuristic feel. In turn, the Meatball was dismissed as being antiquated. Danne & Blackburn labored to help NASA incorporate and embrace the new logo, but by 1992, the Worm was set aside and replaced by the beloved Meatball yet again.

Until last year, the Meatball was the only licensed insignia of NASA, but, perhaps inspired by the nostalgia of a 1970s throwback, Vivienne Tam and Coach requested permission to use the Worm in their fashion designs. Ulrich brought the requests to the legal department, who authorized the Worms use for these collections. We didnt want to give carte blanche, though, Ulrich says, So we went back to the same standards of use for the Worm from the 70s and 80s as a nod to the designers.

According to Ulrich, there has been a surge in the past year of usage requests for both logos. Social media has propelled us forward in a way Ive never seen before, he says. Hollywood films like Interstellar, Gravity, Hidden Figures, The Martian... these have caused a lot of interest in space. While his office received maybe three or four requests a month in the past, Ulrich says he now gets a request a day or every other day.

Since there is no possibility of exclusivity with use of a government logo such as NASAs, countless companies, many of them apparel makers, use NASA images on their merchandise. Although the logo and images have always been available for public use, in 1984, designer Stephen Sprouse was the first to seek permission to do so, creating fabrics that mingled NASAs space images with graffiti lettering spelling the planets names backwards. According to his colleagues, Sprouse was enamored with space and continued to incorporate these themes in his later collections.

Like Stephen Sprouse before them, Coachs design team found inspiration in NASA and outer space. According to creative director Stuart Vevers, The collection is very nostalgic. Coachs Space Collection ranges in price from a $35 Space Hangtag up to the Shearling Lumber Jacket, most certainly a throwback to the glory days of space exploration, which is adorned with a Space Rexy zipper charm. In between, space enthusiasts can find pins, charms, wallets, bags, and a variety of apparel options adorned with both the official NASA logos as well as Coachs own space-inspired designs.

In addition to looking back toward the past, Vevers says that the theme drives us forward. Theres something about the time of the space program that just gives this feeling of possibility, he says. The space references, rockets, and planets are symbolic of a moment of ultimate American optimism and togetherness.

As a government agency, NASA has no interest in offering free publicity for the vast number of clothing companies that have used their images and logos, but Ulrich recalls granting permission to a number of companies, including Target, Forever 21, Old Navy, Nike, and Walmart, in addition to the aforementioned Stephen Sprouse, Vivienne Tam, Coach, Topshop, and Urban Outfitters. Since we dont do exclusive or special arrangements, after a manufacturer gets the okay, you might see the merchandise in various stores, Ulrich says.

Is there anything NASA would turn down? According to official guidelines, NASA has a long standing policy of not collaborating with promotions related to alcohol or tobacco products. Other than that, Ulrich says, We are not allowed to set price limits. If a product were really inappropriate, like skimpy underwear, wed probably say no, but thats more of a policy than a legal issue.

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NASA Doesn't Benefit From Your Cute Meatball Tee - Racked

At last, scientists may be able to get drunk in space.

NASA's Vegetable Production System, called "Veggie" for short, is working on growing various types of produce aboard the International Space Station so astronauts can have a balanced diet. But you know what's more fun? Growing grapes vines that can deliver space agents some tasty wine.

"Wine grapes would be an interesting challenge," Veggie principal investigator Gioia Massa told Gizmodo. "We have been working with some dwarf fruit trees that the USDA developed, and I have heard that they also have some dwarf grape vines, so if the plants were small enough or could be trained around, for example, lights, it would certainly be possible to grow them."

Scientists grow mizuna lettuce on theInternational Space Station.

Though it's a fun idea, NASA unfortunately has its priorities in order and is not currently working on creating wine in orbit.

"Most plants for space are super compact, but if you had vines that you could coil or clip a larger plant might be an option," Massa said. "Getting light to a sprawling vine is definitely a challenge ... You would want very compact varieties."

Sure, it's not a good use of space or resources but it is possible. And as Asgardians try to develop the first-ever human space nation, perhaps a little booze will become more of a priority.

Until then, it's on our space wish list.

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NASA says you can probably make wine in space. We're bringing the cheese. - Mic

New NASA mission ideas would study the gassy environments of Uranus and Neptune, two planets on the edge of the solar system that spacecraft have visited only once.

The agency has several potential mission concepts on the table, including flybys, orbiters and even a spacecraft to dive into Uranus' atmosphere, agency officials said in a statement.

NASA released a study of potential future missions in support of the forthcoming Planetary Science Decadal Survey, a publication of the National Research Council that is used to help determine what missions NASA should pursue. The next survey covers science priorities from 2022 and 2032. [Auroras on Uranus Dazzle in New Hubble Telescope Views]

"This [NASA] study argues the importance of exploring at least one of these planets and its entire environment, which includes surprisingly dynamic icy moons, rings and bizarre magnetic fields," Mark Hofstadter, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in the statement. Hofstadter was one of the two co-chairs of the science team that produced the report.

"We do not know how these planets formed and why they and their moons look the way they do," added fellow co-chair Amy Simon, senior scientist of planetary atmospheres research at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "There are fundamental clues as to how our solar system formed and evolved that can only be found by a detailed study of one, or preferably both of these planets."

Both planets have been visited by a single spacecraft, Voyager 2, which flew by Uranus and Neptune in 1986 and 1989, respectively. Voyager 2 was tasked with viewing the largest planets of the outer solar system and took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune on the probe's way out of the solar system. (The spacecrat's twin, Voyager 1, studied Jupiter and Saturn and entered interstellar space in 2012.)

Since then, however, telescope technology has improved enough so that scientists can perform some studies of Uranus and Neptune from the ground. Researchers using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, for example, have tracked giant storms appearing and disappearing on Uranus in recent years. However, no concentrated long-term program is possible on the ground, because telescope time is competitive and spread among several targets.

Studies suggest that Uranus and Neptune both have liquid oceans beneath their clouds, making up about two-thirds of their mass, NASA officials noted in the statement. It's a different environment from the much bigger Jupiter and Saturn (which are about 85 percent gas by mass) and smaller, rocky planets such as Earth or Mars, which are almost 100 percent rock.

"It's not clear how or where ice giant planets form, why their magnetic fields are strangely oriented, and what drives geologic activity on some of their moons," NASA added in the same statement. "These mysteries make them scientifically important, and this importance is enhanced by the discovery that many planets around other stars appear to be similar to our own ice giants."

You can view the full 529-page study at the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute's website.

Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .

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NASA eyes close-up mission to Uranus, Neptune - Fox News

Astronaut Sunita L. Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998, has spent a total of 322 days in space, and previously served in the Navy. Courtesy of NASA

Williams was born in Ohio, but grew up in Needham and attended public schools in the town. She considers it her hometown.

Williams is one of two Asian Americans in NASAs astronaut corp, which currently consists of 44 active astronauts, Brandi Dean, public affairs specialist at NASA, told NBC News. She was

Williams said that having an elementary school in her hometown named after her as humbling and overwhelming.

I hope this will be a new spark and addition to the town. Im excited for the future of the students there and I hope it opens up their eyes to even greater possibilities than what was obvious from when I was there, she told NBC News.

Williams was one of two candidates after whom Needham Public Schools considered naming the new school. The other, Leslie Cutler, was the first woman selectman in Needham in the early 1990s. She also served in the Massachusetts state legislature.

We felt that [Sunita], along with Leslie Cutler, truly were both pioneers and role models, Black said.

In Needham, no school building is named after a woman, Black said. The first will be named after Williams.

Shes a woman of color and we felt she really encapsulated all the values of the school and our community, and we wanted to acknowledge that, Black said.

The new school is scheduled to officially open its doors in September 2019, at which point Williams plans on visiting if she is not in space.

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Massachusetts School to be Named After NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams - NBCNews.com

Update: A spokesman for the TSA has shot down the rumor that the agency would require passengers to remove books, saying a private airport security company was experimenting with the procedure.

"This is the rumor that doesn't want to die At no time has the removal of books been TSA policy, nor are we considering making it policy. Now there are times when a TSO may ask a passenger declutter their carry-on bag in order to make it easier to screen. We do this because our xray machines may have trouble screening overstuffed bags."

The TSAis reportedly testing new safety procedures that could require airline passengers to remove books from their carry-on bags when going through security lines, as The Hill reported. The TSA has been testing this program since at least early May, although the agencytold the Wall Street Journal thattests in Kansas City "didn't go well" and were halted after a few days.

We reached out to the TSA for comment about implementation of this new rule. As frequently flying bookworms may be aware, the TSA has already been plucking people out of line to search through their carry-on bags for books, because apparently books can look like plastic explosives when they are sent through the X-ray machine. (That's what the TSA agent told me last time I was pulled out of line for packing hardcovers in my carry-on.)

However, the ACLU is sounding the alarm on the grounds that this could be a way for TSA agents to unconstitutionally scrutinize reading material, citing a case they took on of a man handcuffed and detained for hours for merely carrying a set of Arabic-language flash cards and a book critical of U.S. foreign policy. "[B]ooks raise very special privacy issues," the ACLU's senior policy analyst Jay Stanley wrote in a recent blog post. "There is a long history of special legal protection for the privacy of one's reading habits in the United States, not only through numerous Supreme Court and other court decisions, but also through state laws that criminalize the violation of public library reading privacy or require a warrant to obtain book sales, rental, or lending records." While the ACLU is clearly on it,for now, maybe don't pack Conquered by Clippy on your next flight.

[Photo: Skyler Smith] ML

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NASA and Lockheed Martin hope you don't hear this supersonic jet coming - Fast Company

The Raven payload, before its integration on the International Space Station in February 2017.

Uncrewed satellites orbiting Earth and other planets in the solar system travel at thousands of miles per hour, their missions spanning years or even decades. They were built to last on their own, but how might space agencies service them if parts break down, or if they run low on fuel?

That's where space robots come in, according to panelists speaking at Future Con, a convention held in Washington, D.C., from June 16-18, where talks and exhibits explored the intersection of cutting-edge science with science fiction and popular culture.

At a June 18 panel "Robots in Space," NASA scientists explained how engineers are designing robots to perform a seemingly impossible precision task in space refueling satellites that are traveling at thousands of miles per hour. [10 Crazy New Skills That Robots Picked Up in 2016]

Space robots are not new to science fiction, and plenty of machines today perform complex scientific tasks on Earth and in space from surgically correcting eye defects to helping astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) during spacewalks. Several robots even dwell on the surface of other worlds, such as the Mars rovers: the now-defunct Spirit and the still-active Opportunity and Curiosity.

Experts from NASA's Satellite Servicing Projects Division (SSPD) appeared at Future Con accompanied by a scale model of a space robot called Raven, part of a mission that will be capable of tracking, locating and refueling autonomous spacecraft including satellites that were not designed to be serviced in space, according to a description on the NASA mission website. The mission, Restore-L, is expected to launch in 2020, NASA reported.

The Raven module recalls the three-eyed raven from the HBO series "Game of Thrones." It also has a trio of "eyes," or sensors, which gather data in visible and infrared wavelengths, and through lidar (radar detection of laser-generated light pulses).

Recently, Raven was sent to the ISS to gather data, Future Con panelist Ross Henry, project manager for the Raven module at SSPD, told the audience. By "watching" vehicles with its three sensors as they approached, docked and departed, Raven gathered valuable information about how spacecraft move, which will help NASA engineers prepare it to locate and track fast-moving satellites, Henry said.

Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager for the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and Ross Henry, project manager for NASA's Raven module, pose alongside a Raven replica at the Future Con panel, "Robots in Space."

Since the beginning of the U.S. space program, approximately 5,000 satellites have been engineered, of which around 1,400 are in orbit now. Of those, only one is designed to be refueled the ISS, according to Benjamin Reed, a deputy project manager for NASA's Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office.

Present and future satellite designs will be better suited for servicing in space, but Restore-L will address special trials posed by earlier generations of satellites, thereby significantly extending their useful life spans, Reed said.

Spotting most satellites in the blackness of space is enormously difficult, because they're not "retroreflective," meaning they don't reflect light back to the light source, Reed said. Picture a roadside stop sign its surface is treated to scatter light so you can see it at night, even when the pole holding it up is effectively invisible. Of all the satellites in orbit, only the ISS and the Hubble Space Telescope are retroreflective, Reed said.

And finding the satellite is just the beginning. A refueling mission will also need to get close to the fast-moving spacecraft no small feat when both are traveling around 16,400 mph (26,393 km/h), Reed said.

After Restore-L is in position, the tricky work of refueling begins. Robotic arms controlled by operators in Maryland will cut through a protective shield on the satellite, remove the thermal cover, unscrew several protective caps and pump in highly explosive fuel, Reed told the panel audience. And then Restore-L needs to replace all those caps and covers, in the reverse order.

Once the servicing mission is ready to go, NASA probably won't deploy a squadron of refueling robots more likely, it will design an individual spacecraft capable of refueling a dozen or more satellites, according to Reed.

The project's challenges are considerable, but the progress made by NASA scientists in recent decades is no less incredible, Reed told the audience. The first in-space servicing mission a spacewalk to repair a damaged solar shield on Skylab took place in 1973, and the 40 years that followed saw the design, launch and subsequent servicing of Hubble and the ISS servicing conducted by both humans and robots, he said.

"What's the next 40 years going to bring? I don't know, but it sure is going to be fun to help make that happen," Reed said.

Original article on Live Science.

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Space Robots to the Rescue! How NASA Will Service Aging Satellites - Live Science

By NASA // June 26, 2017

ABOVE VIDEO: Space Station Crew Member Discusses Life in Space with Voice of America

(NASA) NASAs Kepler space telescope team has released a mission catalog of planet candidates that introduces 219 new planet candidates, 10 of which are near-Earth size and orbiting in their stars habitable zone, which is the range of distance from a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of a rocky planet.

This is the most comprehensive and detailed catalog release of candidate exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system, from Keplers first four years of data. Its also the final catalog from the spacecrafts view of the patch of sky in the Cygnus constellation.

With the release of this catalog, derived from data publicly available on the NASA Exoplanet Archive, there are now 4,034 planet candidates identified by Kepler. Of which, 2,335 have been verified as exoplanets. Of roughly 50 near-Earth size habitable zone candidates detected by Kepler, more than 30 have been verified.

Additionally, results using Kepler data suggest two distinct size groupings of small planets. Both results have significant implications for the search for life. The final Kepler catalog will serve as the foundation for more study to determine the prevalence and demographics of planets in the galaxy, while the discovery of the two distinct planetary populations shows that about half the planets we know of in the galaxy either have no surface, or lie beneath a deep, crushing atmosphere an environment unlikely to host life.

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NASAs Kepler space telescope team has identified 219 new planet candidates, 10 of which are near-Earth size and in the habitable zone of their star. (NASA Image)

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NASA: Hundreds of New Planet Candidates Featured In Kepler Survey Catalog - SpaceCoastDaily.com

Story Highlights

A prolonged heatwave brought unusually hot temperatures to the Southwest.

Maps released by NASA show how abnormal the heat has been.

Land surface temperatures have reached upwards of 120 degrees in some places.

The Southwest is no stranger to heat, but June has produced unusually sweltering temperatures in the region, and maps released by NASA shows just how out of the norm the heat wave was.

A prolonged heat wave has affected the Southwest since the middle of June, according to weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce.Phoenix and Las Vegas both recorded nine consecutive days with highs of 110 degrees or hotter through Sunday.

Maps released by NASA show the land surface temperatures of the Earth, which reflect how hot the planets surface would feel to the touch, according toa release from the space agency.

(MORE:This is Where 120-Degree Temperatures Have Officially Been Recorded the Most)

In themap above, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Needles and Palm Springs in California are all highlighted in a deep red zone, which reflects surface temperaturesof at least 113 degrees.

Phoenix has set three daily record highs in the last nine days and Las Vegas equaled its all-time record high of 117 degrees last week, said Dolce.Palm Springs hit 122 degrees for the third time in six days on Sunday. The town of Needles tied its daily record high of 125 degrees last Tuesday.

The second map shows land surface temperatures between June 15 and 21, compared to the averages for the same time period from 2001 to 2010. The red areas show where temperatures were hotter than the long-term average and the blue show areas that were below average.

The heat wave has taken its toll on millions, leaving at least five people dead,power grids stressed,flights grounded andwildfires raging.Heat has even been blamed for warping train tracks and causing a derailment near Earlimart, California.

In order to deal with the extreme temperatures, the National Weather Service suggests drinking plenty of water, limiting outdoor activity and wearing loose and light-colored clothing.

The NWS also suggests checking on the sick, elderly and those without air conditioning and never leaving children and pets alone in hot vehicles, even for a brief period.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Heat WavePlagues the Southwest

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NASA Maps Reveal Scope, Intensity of Southwest's Extreme Heat Wave - The Weather Channel

Hacker network Anonymous has made headlines today, this time claiming that NASA is on the verge of announcing evidence of alien life.

It's a pretty bold statement, but before you get too excited, we've checked the science, and let's be clear right up front that Anonymous doesn't appear to have any substantial new evidence to back up their speculation.

In fact, their latest video announcement centres around the Kepler Space Telescope's latest discovery of 219 new planet candidates outside our Solar System, as well as comments made by Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen at a USgovernment hearing back in April.

"Taking into account all of the different activities and missions that are specifically searching for evidence of alien life, we are on the verge of making one of the most profound, unprecedented, discoveries in history," Zurbuchen said during the recent congressional hearing of the committee on 'Advances in the Search for Life', on April 26.

He was also pretty excited about the Kepler announcement last week:

Anonymous has taken Zurbuchen's enthusiastic testimony from that hearing (which you can watch in full at the bottom of this story), alongside the latest Kepler discovery - as well as a few other statements from former astronauts and alien enthusiasts - as evidence "something is going on in the skies above".

You can check out their statement below:

So what's going on here? Are we really on the verge of finding evidence of alien life?

Well, no. It's safe to say Anonymous hasn't stumbled on some smoking gun of extraterrestrial existence here - sorry, guys.

While Zurbuchen's statement back at the April meeting does sound pretty tantalising when taken out of context, what he (and others in the scientific community) are actually excited about is the advances we've made in our ability to search for extraterrestrial life - not any specific piece of evidence.

For starters, there's the Kepler Space Telescope, which was launched in 2009, and scans patches of the sky, looking for the slight dimming of distant stars as evidence of exoplanets orbiting in front of them.

So far it has discovered more than 4,000 planet candidates outside our Solar System, including 30 planets similar in sizeto Earth that are located in the habitable zones of their stars - that means they're not so far away that water would freeze, and not too close that everything would be burnt to a crisp.

Notably, earlier this year NASA announced the discovery of a "sister solar system" - a star system known as TRAPPIST-1 that has seven potentially Earth-like planets orbiting it, and is a relatively close 39 light-years away.

"The TRAPPIST-1 system is just 39 light years away and its discovery tells us that there is plenty of planet making material in our little corner of the solar system, indicating that finding Earth-like planets may actually be closer to us than we originally thought. Future study of this planetary system could reveal conditions suitable for life," said Zurbuchen at the hearing back in April.

Since then, other research teams have contradicted the assumption that TRAPPIST-1's planets are habitable, but the fact that a solar system so similar to our own exists at all in our own neck of the woods suggests there are many more out there and is exciting in its own right.

And even better tools are about to come online to aid in the search for aliens.

Next year, NASA will launch the James Webb Space Telescope -an even more sensitive planet hunter - which will be an even more sensitive planet hunter, that will be able to detect the chemical fingerprints of water, methane, oxygen, ozone in an exoplanet's atmosphere - something that will help us sniff out signs of habitability if they're there.

In addition to looking for signs of life on planets outside of our own Solar System, NASA has also made significant advances when it comes to our own neighbouring planets - including the discovery of essential life building block hydrogen in the frozen oceans of Saturn's moon Enceladus, and evidence that Jupiter's watery moon Europa has oceans with very similar chemical composition to our own.

So Anonymous is right in one way - NASA is closer than ever to having the tools to find evidence of alien life... but unfortunately that doesn't mean that evidence already exists, or even that we'll find it in our lifetime.

But if it makes you feel any better, physicist Stephen Hawking is now "more convinced than ever that we are not alone". Although Neil deGrasse Tyson recently said in a Reddit AMA that he doesn't think we'll find alien life in the next 50 years.

You can check out Zurbuchen's full testimony at the April 26 Congress meeting below, starting from around the 39 minute mark.

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Anonymous Says NASA Is About to Announce Evidence of Alien Life - ScienceAlert

A rocket launch scheduled for the NASA site on Virginias Eastern Shore has been postponed 10 times this month, hinting at the hazards and hardships involved in rocket science.

The latest delay was reported Friday, when the space agency said the launch of its Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket, which had been scheduled for Saturday, was again put off. NASA said it was because of expected cloud cover.

The rocket was to be sent up from the Wallops Flight Facility to support ionospheric research by creating luminescent chemical clouds in that level of the atmosphere that would be visible along much of the Eastern Seaboard.

But clouds and other impediments have deferred the launch over and over. On June 1, wind was the culprit; on June 2, clouds; and on June 3, it was boats in the impact area. And so it has gone.

A new date has not been set, NASA said.

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NASA delays Eastern Shore rocket launch for 10th time - Washington Post

With the Great American Eclipse taking place on August 21, NASA has developed a special app that can show you minute-by-minute exactly how much of the sun will be eclipsed.

With the help of NASA, you can visualize the exact progress of August's solar eclipse.

The Great American Eclipse is one of the most significant astronomical events to happen in United States history.

A rare total eclipse of the sun will happen for those within a 70-mile-wide swath from Oregon to South Carolina. The swath cuts across major cities such as Kansas City and Nashville.

August's eclipse marks the first total solar eclipse to span from coast to coast in the United States since 1918. The upcoming total solar eclipse is also the first for the United States since 1945.

RELATED: How to safely view August's eclipse

For those on either side of the swath, the majority of the Sun will be blocked by the moon at some point during the day of August 21 for everyone living in the Lower 48. For those living near the swath, more than 90 percent of the sun will be obscured during the afternoon of August 21. But even those living in Southern California or Maine will still see nearly two-thirds of the Sun blocked.

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How much of the eclipse will you see? NASA develops interactive app for Great American Eclipse - ABC15 Arizona

Astrotech Space Ops prepares TDRS for launch

ABOVE VIDEO:The first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite was launched in 1983 on the Space Shuttle Challengerss first flight, STS-6. The Boeing-built Inertial Upper Stage that was to take the satellite from Challengers orbit to its ultimate geosynchronous orbit suffered a failure that caused it not to deliver the TDRS to the correct orbit. As a result, it was necessary to command the satellite to use its onboard rocket thrusters to move it into its correct orbit.

(NASA) The next addition to NASAs Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) System has arrived in Florida to begin processing for its August launch.

The TDRS-M satellite, secured in a shipping container, was delivered Friday aboard a cargo aircraft that touched down at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida, near the agencys Kennedy Space Center.

The spacecraft then was transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility to begin preparations for launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

TDRS-M will expand the capabilities of NASAs Space Network to support space communication for an additional 15 years.

The network consists of TDRS satellites that transmit data to and from ground stations on Earth for NASA missions and expendable launch vehicles.

The next addition to NASAs Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) System has arrived in Florida to begin processing for its August launch.

The Space Network allows scientists, engineers and control room staff to readily access data from missions like the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station.

Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems of El Segundo, California, built TDRS-M. NASAs Space Communications and Navigation Program, a part of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, is responsible for the TDRS network.

Launch management of the Atlas V launch service for TDRS-M is the responsibility of the mission directorates Launch Services Program at Kennedy.

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VIDEO: NASA's Latest Tracking, Data Relay Satellite System Arrives In Titusville For August Launch - SpaceCoastDaily.com

After a three-year mission hunting for near-Earth asteroids and comets, NASAs NEOWISE program has delivered a fresh batch of discoveries. In the past year alone, NEOWISE has detected 97 previously unknown solar system objects, 28 of which are Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that come close to or cross Earths orbit, and can pose a potential collision threat.

In the past three years, NEOWISE has revealed the characteristics of 693 Near-Earth Objects, 114 of which are new discoveries. In the past year alone, it discoveredten potentially hazardous objects. An object is classified as potentially hazardous if its minimum distance from Earth is 4,647,790 miles or less.

NEOWISE is a reinvention of NASAs Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, which was launched back in December 2009. WISEs goal was to map the entire sky with its 16-inch telescope looking for sources of infrared light, which it accomplished in six months of observation.

With extreme sensitivity to infrared radiation at four different wavelengths, WISE detected faint celestial heat sources across the cosmos such as galaxies billions of light years away, objects within the Milky Way such as black holes, forming star systems and cool brown dwarf stars, and asteroids and comets within our solar system.

Just within our solar system WISE observed about 154,000 objects, including 33,500 new asteroid and comet discoveries.

Being NEO-wise

In October 2010, WISEs primary mission ended. Then, in September 2013, NASA reactivated the spacecraft and re-purposed it to begin a new mission, focused on the hunt for asteroids and comets, with particular interest in Near-Earth Objects that could be potentially hazardous to us. The NEOWISE mission was born.

Knowing about a threat is the first step in avoiding it. In the case of Near-Earth Objects and potentially hazardous asteroids, which occasionally collide with the Earth to cause local or global mayhem, the more we know, the better our chances of predicting a future impact with enough warning to do something to prevent it.

In fact, due to the group efforts of NEOWISE and professional and amateur astronomers around the world, as of June 2017 we know of the existence of 16,294 Near Earth Objects of all categories (meteoroids, asteroids, and comets that come close to or cross Earths orbit). Of these, 1,806 are classified as potentially hazardousthat is, have the potential to come close to the Earth, and are large enough to cause significant damage should they impact us.

If these numbers cause you concern, there are some other numbers you can check out for a little reassurance that the sky is probably not falling anytime soon. The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory posts on their Sentry site an automatically calculated list of the most significant risks of impact by potentially hazardous objects.

You can dig into the numbers if you have the time or statistical inclination, but perhaps the biggest takeaway from those probabilities is that we are exposed to numerous Earthly risks every daytraffic accidents, disease, slipping in the shower that rate much higher danger than any threats from these NEOs.

Friday, June 30th is International Asteroid Day, a day of awareness of the risk of asteroid impacts, and for support of efforts to devise a defense against them.

Benjamin Burress has been a staff astronomer at Chabot Space & Science Center since July 1999. He graduated from Sonoma State University in 1985 with a bachelors degree in physics (and minor in astronomy), after which he signed on for a two-year stint in the Peace Corps, where he taught physics and mathematics in the African nation of Cameroon. From 1989-96 he served on the crew of NASAs Kuiper Airborne Observatory at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. From 1996-99, he was Head Observer at the Naval Prototype Optical Interferometer program at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.

Read his previous contributions to QUEST, a project dedicated to exploring the Science of Sustainability.

Read more here:

Newly-Found Asteroids and Meteoroids Could Pose Collision Threat: NASA - KQED

On May 25, a bleary-eyed Jasmin Moghbeli, 33, had just arrived in North Carolina on a red-eye flight from Arizona to attend her friends wedding. As she was juggling her bags and trying to open the door to her hotel room, her cellphone rang in her back pocket.

She knew exactly who was calling, and that it could potentially have her seeing stars.

I answered it as calmly as possible, said Moghbeli. But my hands were shaking,

The voice at the other end of the line asked: Are you still interested in joining us here at NASA?

The Baldwin, LI, native now laughs at the question. Of course I [was]! Who says no to that?

Moghbeli who is a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps, stationed at Air Station Yuma in Arizona was one of 12 pilots, scientists and engineers chosen to train as astronauts.

Its the first class since 2013, and there were a record 18,353 applicants. Five of the 12 are women.

Moghbeli has dreamed of being an astronaut since the sixth grade, when she did a book report on Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

I dressed up as her in school. From then on [being an astronaut] was something that I wanted to do, said Moghbeli, who also idolized astronaut Mike Massimino, a native of Oceanside, Long Island.

As a kid, Moghbeli who was born in Germany and moved to Queens as a baby even attended space camp in Huntsville, Ala.

Her life wasnt all in the clouds, however: I loved going to Broadway shows. That was my favorite thing to do in the city growing up, she said. I really like The Lion King.

The road to stardom has been paved with blood, sweat and math, including an MIT diploma and three Marine deployments.

After graduating from Baldwin Senior High, Moghbeli headed to MIT and trained with the Marine Corps Platoon Leadership Program during college.

She entered the Marines as a second lieutenant with the intention of becoming a jet pilot but fell in love with the AH-1W Whiskey Cobra attack helicopter during flight school.

Three deployments later including one to Afghanistan, one on a ship in the Middle East and a tour in Asia she is now flying Cobras on reconnaissance and air support.

But that will all change in August, when Moghbeli, who is single, reports to Johnson Space Center in Houston for an intensive two-year astronaut-training process.

Despite the culmination of the shuttle era in 2011, Moghbelis spirits are still high.

There are a lot of jobs on Earth to be done by astronauts, she said.

And shes already started bonding with her classmates; after meeting at an announcement ceremony, theyve been texting each other.

Once she settles into her pad in Houston, Moghbeli can hang the picture of herself dressed as Tereshkova as a reminder of how far she has come.

Although she noted with a laugh, It doesnt look quite as cool as I remember.

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NASA is finally bringing on new astronauts including this cool chick - New York Post

Aiming to add to NASAs funding and stability, Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) introduced the Aeronautics Innovation Act on Friday morning.

Coauthored by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), House Bill 3033 would mature and demonstrate new aeronautics technologies.

This bill will support our team here in the United States so we can continue to compete with international innovation and remain on top of the curve, Knight said in a statement.

By supporting NASA in these projects for innovation, we can ensure the United States remains the leader in transforming the aircraft industry that will also strengthen our military capabilities.

The bill would ensure support for NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission Directorates Strategic Implementation Plan by setting authorization levels for the next five years.

From 2018 to 2022, funding for each fiscal year would equate to $790 million, $880 million, $924 million, $946 million and $980 million, respectively.

Additionally, the bill would establish a national policy for aeronautics research.

According to Rep. Kaptur, NASA produces both ideas and careers which contribute to local economies and bring about national knowledge.

The work NASA does should always enjoy bipartisan support in Congress, Kaptur said. Investments in NASA and science are investments in jobs and a better quality of life.

H.R. 3033 has several supporters, including the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation, NASA Aerospace Support Team, the Antelope Valley Board of Trade, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the Small UAV Coalition and the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce.

President of NASA Aerospace Support Team Delma C. Freeman expressed the associations support of the legislation.

The Aeronautics Innovation Act properly invests in the critical NASA research that allows our aerospace industry to continue as the global leader in aeronautics research and technology development, Freeman said in a statement.

gender@signalscv.com

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House legislation would provide out of this world investments for NASA - Santa Clarita Valley Signal

Trundling along the rocky terrain of lower Mount Sharp, the lonely Curiosity rover was recently photographed from space by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using the most powerful telescope ever sent to Mars.

The 9.8-foot-long (3m) rover appears as a (somehow cute) tiny blue spot amongst the coppery-colored surroundings of Mount Sharp. Curiosity had been exploring Mars Gale crater, which has Mount Sharp as its central peak.

The image was taken on June 5 using the 143lb (65kg), $40 million High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. According to NASA, HiRISE has been imaging Curiosity about every three months, to monitor the surrounding features for changes such as dune migration or erosion.

Curiosity appears bluer than it really is to the human eye because of the way HiRISE exaggerates color in order to show the difference in surface materials on Mars for study. The camera uses three different color filters: red, blue-green, and near-infrared. By combining the images taken with the different color filters, false color images are created that emphasize textures.

If youd like to take a closer look, the full-resolution JPG is available from NASA here, and the TIFF can be downloaded here.

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NASA's Curiosity Rover Photographed from Space by Orbiter - PetaPixel (blog)

Hacktivist group Anonymous has released a YouTube video in which it claims NASA could soon announce the discovery of alien life.

Anonymous is known around the world for its work. In the past, it's taken on the likes of Isis, Donald Trump, and Westboro Baptist Church the small American religious group that campaigns against homosexuality.

In its latest video, Anonymous states that a NASA spokesperson called Professor Thomas Zurbuchen told a recent US Science, Space, and Technology committee meeting that extraterrestrial life could soon be proven.

"Our civilisation is on the verge of discovering evidence of alien life in the cosmos," Zurbuchen supposedly said.

"Taking into account all of the different activities and missions that are searching for alien life, we are on the verge of making one of the most profound, unprecedented discoveries in history."

Anonymous has also written about alien life on its website.

It said: "The evidence sure seems to imply that something is going on in the skies above.

"It would cost a lot for spaceships and a continuous flow of taxes and black budget dollars could imply a rational that there is more than meets the eye and or that of public knowledge."

Obviously, this is speculation. At present, there's no evidence at least none we know of that proves the existence of alien life. But many think it's a possibility.

Last week, NASA discovered 219 new planets, ten of which are rocky planets possibly not all that dissimilar to Earth.

Although these planets are in the solar system's 'Goldilocks Zone,' which means they're too hot or cold to be habitable.

Excerpt from:

Hacktivist group says NASA could soon reveal alien life - Mirror.co.uk

NASA just fact-checked Goop , Gwyneth Paltrow 's lifestyle website about the wearable healing stickers the website was promoting.

Goop said in a Thursday post that Body Vibes' wearable stickers, which cost around $60 per pack, are "made with the same conductive carbon material NASA uses to line space suits so they can monitor an astronaut's vitals during wear," Gizmodo reports . The GOOP post went on to say that the wearables come "pre-programmed to an ideal frequency, allowing them to target imbalances."

NASA responded to the claim telling CNN Money that carbon materials don't line its suits and even further, its current spacesuit does not have any carbon fibers.

"Not only is the whole premise like snake oil, the logic doesnt even hold up," Mark Shelhamer, a former chief scientist at NASA human research division, told Gizmodo . "If they promote healing, why do they leave marks on the skin when they are removed?"

Goop removed the NASA reference after Gizmodo initially reported on the disputed claim. They have since issued a statement saying their recommendations do not represent a "formal endorsement," CNN Money reports.

"The opinions expressed by the experts and companies we profile do not necessarily represent the views of [Goop]," the brand said. "Based on the statement from NASA, we've gone back to the company to inquire about the claim and removed the claim from our site until we get additional verification" the statement read.

[ Gizmodo , CNN Money]

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NASA Just Called Out Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop-Approved 'Healing Stickers' - TIME

A cry for help has come from planetary scientists pleading for a Next Mars Orbiteror NeMO for short. Researchers say the spacecraft fleet currently orbiting the Red Planet are aging and there are no replacements in the works, imperiling future Mars landers, rovers and even possible human missions that will depend on orbiters to talk to Earth. We are at a turning point in Mars exploration, says Casey Dreier, director of space policy at The Planetary Society. NASA declares itself on a Journey to Mars, but it cant even invest in the most basic infrastructure to ensure that goal moves forward.

NeMOs most pressing duty, in many eyes, is to take the baton from veteran NASA spacecraftthe 2001 Mars Odyssey as well as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been on duty since March 2006that are at risk of expiring of old age. If they are gone, Earth will be mute to all missions sent to Mars in coming years. And even if they hang on, their technology is becoming outdated. NeMO could offer, for instance, broadband EarthMars laser communicationsa big plus to handle the projected communications traffic outpouring from the Red Planet down the line.

If equipped with radar, NeMO could also serve as a water-witching orbiter. It could scan Mars and map out subsurface pockets of water ice and even assist in X-marking a safe and sound landing zone for astronauts where they can draw on water for oxygen-sustaining needs as well as for concocting rocket fuel. Some scientists also call for NeMO to showcase new solar-electric ion thrusters and advanced solar arrays. With such capacities, the Mars orbiter is ripe for extra assignments such as helping to return precious samples from Mars to Earth or sauntering over and investigating Phobos and Deimos, the planets two moons.

For NASA, there is uncertainty about how NeMO fits into the grand scheme of Mars exploration, and at what cost. Indeed, the proposed 2018 fiscal year space agency budget asks for $19.1 billion for all things civil space. It includes funding for future Mars missions but does not call out NeMO by name. Asked about the situation, Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters says only, Were continuing to study our options for long-range support of communication for our rovers and landed assets on Mars.

What is the interplanetary price tag of a new Mars orbiter? It depends. The low-end version would have the spacecraft confined to relaying communications. Things escalate dollar-wise if it will also make science observations and if it comes factory-loaded with new technologies to perform a larger to-do list of tasks. And any funds allocated to NeMO from the NASA budget must contend against other wish list items such as a mission to Jupiters moon Europa to search for life, not to mention human exploration of the moon or Mars.

Critical Functions

NeMO has three critical functions, says Scott Hubbard of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He was NASAs first Mars czar, a title he earned in restructuring the space agencys Mars agenda in 2000 in the wake of back-to-back Red Planet mission failures. First of all, he says, it must replace the aging communications infrastructure put into place years ago at Mars. If not, all the future data and future exploration plans are at significant risk. Second, a high-resolution imager to replace the MROs High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) will be crucial to select safe and appealing landing sites for future scientific and human exploration landings.

Finally, another NeMO task that should be included, Hubbard says, is a provision to return samples of Red Planet dirt that could be collected and cached by the so-called Mars 2020 rover set to launch in three years. The engineering solution may be for NeMO to use solar-electric propulsion to turn around and fly back to Earth hauling an entire separate spacecraft that carries the goods from Mars, he says, or it could tote a special-purpose entry vehicle thats topped off with Mars regolith and rock for drop-off here at home. Others have suggested that returning Mars samples would require an entirely separate spacecraft, or series of spacecraft, on the order of a flagship mission costing around $2 billion. Thats nonsense, Hubbard says. If requirements are set properly, and the science community and NASA centers engaged in the effort restrain their appetites, Mars sample return can be affordable, he concludes.

Yet with all these possible features and functions, some experts say NeMO is at risk of becoming a Christmas tree spacecraft. That is, a mission that is arguably weighed down with too many ornaments and limping limbs while sucking up more and more development dollars.

Concept Studies

NASA has already made some progress toward NeMO. Back in April 2016 the agency requested ideas from U.S. industry about a new Mars orbiter for potential launch in the 2020s. The space agency wanted that spacecraft to provide advanced communications and imaging as well as robotic science exploration in support of NASAs plans to send astronauts to the vicinity of the Red Planet or its moons sometime during the 2030s.

Later in 2016 NASA picked five U.S. aerospace firms to carry out concept studies for a prospective Mars orbiter mission. Those contract winnersThe Boeing Co.; Lockheed Martin Space Systems; Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems; Orbital ATK; and Space Systems/Loraltook four months to appraise the need for Mars telecommunications and global high-resolution imaging as well as assess possible added scientific instruments, optical communications and the use of solar-electric propulsion. But NASA has not yet awarded a contract to actually move forward with any of these concepts. I think theres broad consensus that something is needed, says Guy Beutelschies, director of deep-space exploration for Lockheed Martin. But the mechanics of getting that into the NASA budget, funded and moving forward into a real procurement are unclear.

Yet the space agency is running out of time. The soonest a mission could be ready is probably 2022, and a decision to target that date would need to come soon. If they want to do a Mars 2022 orbiter, its going to take about four years or so, specifically if they want to inject a lot of new technology, he says. The orbits of Earth and Mars align every two years, providing a biennial opportunity to launch spacecraft to the Red Planet. The worry is that if they dont have something out this year, then they may have to slip it to the 2024 opportunity, Beutelschies notes.

Shallow Ice

If NASA is serious about human exploration of Mars, then science measurements from a NeMO are essential, says Alfred McEwen, director of the Planetary Image Research Lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson and principal investigator of MROs HiRISE. NeMO could find resources like shallow ice at low latitudes, he suggests, and could study whether there are special regions of Mars astronauts should avoid contaminating such as locations with recurring slope lineae. Those are narrow, dark-toned streaks that go down steep Martian slopes, which could be water tracks of salty brines, and potentially home to Martian life.

Hurling humans to Mars means cutting through a thicket of questions and, in turn, that means more reconnaissance, says Rick Davis, assistant director for science and exploration in NASAs Science Mission Directorate. Having NeMO outfitted with powerful synthetic aperture radar would enable it to spot ice at depth and help plan tapping that resource for use by future Mars crews, he explains. What we dont know is where the water is and whether its in veins or fields, Davis says. There are big knowledge gaps, and you need more resolution than what weve had to date.

Troubling Path of Decline

The lack of plans for NeMO is just one of a number of problems threatening NASAs desire to dispatch humans to Mars. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), a committee that reports to NASA and Congress, noted in its 2016 annual report that the space agencys humans-to-Mars plans are in yellow conditionmeaning the panel is not confident that important issues or concerns are being addressed adequately by NASA. The safety group recommended to the agency the establishment of a Mars Mission Program Office and/or designation of a Mars czar that could facilitate needed studies and make sure limited funds are being spent on the appropriate technical challenges. NASA has made some progress in defining the journey to Mars, but in the opinion of the panel, current plans lack substantive risk reduction, technology maturation and advanced systems development to achieve the stated goals, the ASAP report explains. Moreover, the group said establishing a Mars Program Office could facilitate these efforts.

We are essentially riding on the investments made in the previous decade, Dreier says. Earlier this month the public space advocacy group issued a review of NASAs Mars program, stressing that not all is well with the future of Mars exploration. Furthermore, the space advocacy group claimed the space agencys robotic program for the Red Planet is on a troubling path of declineand decisions must be made now in order to stop it. Dreier is co-author of the report, titled Mars in Retrograde: A Pathway to Restoring NASAs Mars Exploration Program. Among its recommendations, the document suggests NASA should immediately commit to a Mars telecommunications and high-resolution imaging orbiter to replace rapidly aging assets currently in orbit. You would think that making the case for a new orbiter would be easy, Dreier says, but so far NASA has been unable or unwilling to commit to starting one for launch in the early 2020s.

All in all, Dreier says the big takeaway about Mars and the space agency, in his view, is clear: NASA built an extraordinary program of Mars exploration in the first decade of this century. The level of investment shrank in the 2010s to the point where there is only a single mission in development as part of the Mars program: the Mars 2020 rover. That wheeled robot is scripted to fetch samples to be returned to Earth by a mission that has yet to be blueprinted or even approved, he notes. Though its science instruments will generate more data than any previous surface mission, [the Mars 2020 rover] will depend on an orbital relay network that will be nearly 20 years old to return this invaluable data, Dreier says. In regards to NeMO, as Dreier sees it, we can fix this, but we need to start this mission now. We roll the dice otherwise.

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Will Mars Go Mute? NASA's Aging Orbiters May Not Last Long Enough to Support Future Exploration - Scientific American