discovery and exploration of the solar system
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A Bonus ‘Hitchhiker’ Will Come Back From Mars in Perseverance’s Sample Tubes
The Perseverance rover has been toiling on the Martian surface for over three years, collecting rock samples that will eventually be brought to Earth if all goes according to plan. But the rover has also picked up hitchhikers, in the form of traces of Martian atmosphere that are squeezed into the “headspace” of the sample…
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Layoffs Loom at NASA After Termination of Over 100 Contractors Amid Mars Budget Constraints
NASA is scaling back on its ambitious Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, fearing federal budget cuts to the space agency’s plan to bring back rock and dust from the Red Planet, which has come under heavy scrutiny for having unrealistic costs and timelines. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reportedly laid off 100 contractors last week…
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Then and Now: Our Earliest Close-Ups of the Planets Compared to Today’s Best Shots
For centuries, astronomers were limited to ground-based observations of the planets, but now we use spacecraft to capture close-up views of our neighboring worlds. Excitingly, our views of solar system planets have been getting progressively better over the decades, as these images attest. The dawn of the Space Age finally made it possible for humankind…
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NASA to Rewrite Mars Sample Return Mission So It Can Actually Happen
NASA is considering alternative ways to bring back samples from Mars after its budget and schedule for the sample return mission was deemed unrealistic in a recent report by an independent review board. During a meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group held earlier this week, NASA announced the formation of a response team…