Rae Paoletta
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A NASA Spacecraft Just Used Earth As A Slingshot
NASA’s Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security — Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is hurtling through the void in order to link up with an asteroid named Bennu in 2018. While the intrepid spacecraft still has a way to go until its big rendezvous, it recently flew by Earth. It posed no immediate danger to our…
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Trump’s NASA Nominee Wants To Study Climate Change On Mars – But Not On Earth
Photo: AP Earlier this month, President Donald Trump nominated Jim Bridenstine — a Republican representative in Oklahoma — as NASA’s new leader. Like most people in this administration, Bridenstine actively supports ideas antithetical to his (soon-to-be) agency: he’s an avid supporter of private space companies and denies that human activity impacts climate change. Now, Bridenstine…
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The Last Photo Cassini Took Was Its Forever Home On Saturn
For those who’ve followed NASA’s Cassini mission these past 20 years, it’s still a bit hard to believe it’s gone. On Friday, September 15, the spacecraft plunged itself into Saturn’s atmosphere, becoming part of the planet it had studied tirelessly for 13 years. While Cassini’s mission is over, there’s plenty of data and imagery from…
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Researchers Discover ‘Atlantis’ For Octopuses Off Australian Coast
Since hermit crabs are actually extremely social, octopuses typically earn the reputation as the true hermits of the ocean. These highly intelligent recluses seem prefer a lonely life in the wild, or if they’re in an aquarium, one in which they can cleverly, constantly toy with their human captors. But new research suggests octopuses may…