the last 27 items from https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/

jpl-news.json

[
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7638", "title": "NASA's Curiosity Keeps Rolling As Team Operates Rover From Home", "introduction": "The Mars mission has learned to meet new challenges while working remotely.", "updated_at": "2020-04-14 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>For people who are able to work remotely during this time of social distancing, video conferences and emails have helped bridge the gap. The same holds true for the team behind NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. They're dealing with the same challenges of so many remote workers - quieting the dog, sharing space with partners and family, remembering to step away from the desk from time to time - but with a twist: They're operating on Mars.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>On March 20, 2020, nobody on the team was present at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the mission is based. It was the first time the rover's operations were planned while the team was completely remote. Two days later, the commands they had sent to Mars executed as expected, resulting in Curiosity <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8633/sols-2713-2714-check-your-work/\">drilling a rock sample</a> at a location called \"Edinburgh.\"</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>The team began to anticipate the need to go fully remote a couple weeks before, leading them to rethink how they would operate. Headsets, monitors and other equipment were distributed (picked up curbside, with all employees following proper social-distancing measures).</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Not everything they're used to working with at JPL could be sent home, however: Planners rely on 3D images from Mars and usually study them through special goggles that rapidly shift between left- and right-eye views to better reveal the contours of the landscape. That helps them figure out where to drive Curiosity and how far they can extend its robotic arm.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>But those goggles require the advanced graphics cards in high-performance computers at JPL (they're actually gaming computers repurposed for driving on Mars). In order for rover operators to view 3D images on ordinary laptops, they've switched to simple red-blue 3D glasses. Although not as immersive or comfortable as the goggles, they work just as well for planning drives and arm movements.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>The team ran through several tests and one full practice run before it was time to plan the \"Edinburgh\" drilling operation.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p><strong>What It Takes to Drive a Rover</strong></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Of course, hardware is only part of the equation: A great deal of logistical adjustments are required as well. Typically, team members at JPL work with hundreds of scientists at research institutions around the world to decide where to drive Curiosity and how to gather its science. Working at a remove from those scientists is not new. But working apart from other people who are usually based at JPL is.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Programming each sequence of actions for the rover may involve 20 or so people developing and testing commands in one place while chatting with dozens of others located elsewhere.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>\"We're usually all in one room, sharing screens, images and data. People are talking in small groups and to each other from across the room,\" said Alicia Allbaugh, who leads the team.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Now they do the same job by holding several video conferences at once while also relying more on messaging apps. It takes extra effort to make sure everybody understands one another; on average, each day's planning takes one or two more hours than it normally would. That adds some limits to how many commands are sent each day. But for the most part, Curiosity is as scientifically productive as ever.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>To make sure everyone is being heard and understands one another, science operations team chief Carrie Bridge proactively talks to the scientists and engineers to close any communication gaps: Does anyone see issues with the current plan? Does the solution the engineers are converging around work for the scientists?</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>\"I probably monitor about 15 chat channels at all times,\" she said. \"You're juggling more than you normally would.\"</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Typically, Bridge would make her rounds to several groups working in a kind of situation room where Curiosity's data and images are viewed and commands are generated. Now she calls into as many as four separate videoconferences at the same time to check in.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>\"I still do my normal routine, but virtually,\" she said.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>The transition has taken getting used to, but Bridge said the effort to keep Curiosity rolling is representative of the can-do spirit that attracted her to NASA.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>\"It's classic, textbook NASA,\" she said. \"We're presented with a problem and we figure out how to make things work. Mars isn't standing still for us; we're still exploring.\"</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>For more information about Curiosity, visit:</p>", "<p></p>", "<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/\"><strong>https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/</strong></a></p>", "<p align=\"center\"></p>", "<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https://nasa.gov/msl\"><strong>https://nasa.gov/msl</strong></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/msl/20200414/PIA23773-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7634", "title": "Help Pave the Way for Artemis: Send NASA Your Mini Moon Payload Designs", "introduction": "A new JPL-led challenge is seeking ideas for scientific instruments that could fit inside a tiny payload no bigger than a bar of soap.", "updated_at": "2020-04-09 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>Future\r\nexploration of the Moon and beyond will require tools of all shapes and sizes -\r\nfrom sweeping orbiters to the tiniest of rovers. In addition to current planned\r\nscientific rovers like the Volatiles\r\nInvestigating Polar Exploration Rover, or <a href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/viper\">VIPER</a>, NASA could one day send even smaller rovers to help scout\r\nthe Moon's surface. These tiny robots would provide mission flexibility and collect\r\nkey information about the lunar surface, its resources and the environment. The\r\ndata collected by these rovers would be helpful for future lunar endeavors and NASA's\r\n<a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis</a> program. </p>", "<p>NASA's\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is running a public prize\r\ncompetition to design miniaturized payloads for future Moon missions. The \"<a href=\"https://www.herox.com/NASApayload\">Honey, I Shrunk the NASA Payload</a>\" challenge is\r\nseeking instrument designs that could help support a sustained human lunar\r\npresence, demonstrate and advance the use of resources found on the Moon, and\r\nenable new science. </p>", "<p>Existing\r\npayloads are often big, heavy and require a lot of power. The payload designs\r\nsought for this challenge are required to be similar in size to that of a bar\r\nof soap at a maximum of 3.9 inches by 3.9 inches by 1.9 inches (100 millimeters\r\nby 100 millimeters by 50 millimeters) and weigh no more than 0.8 pounds (0.4 kilograms).</p>", "<p>\"Smaller\r\npayloads are game changing,\" said Sabah Bux, a JPL technologist. \"They\r\nwill allow us to develop technologies to do more prospecting and science on\r\nsmaller, more mobile platforms.\"</p>", "<p>This\r\nideation challenge is expected to be followed by new competitions to prototype,\r\ntest and deliver the miniaturized payloads. The competition is intended to\r\ngenerate a maturation pipeline of next-generation instruments, sensors,\r\ntechnologies and experiments for near-term lunar exploration.</p>", "<p>Participants\r\nwill have an opportunity to win a share of $160,000 in prizes across several\r\ncategories. JPL is working with the NASA Tournament Lab to execute the\r\nchallenge on the <a href=\"https://www.herox.com/\">heroX crowdsourcing\r\nplatform</a>.\r\nSubmissions will be accepted through June 1, 2020.</p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation about the challenge and how to enter, visit: </p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.herox.com/NASApayload\"><b>https://www.herox.com/NASApayload</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>The\r\nchallenge is funded by NASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/Lunar_Surface_Innovation_Initiative\">Lunar Surface\r\nInnovation Initiative</a> within\r\nthe agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). The initiative\r\nchampions technologies needed to live on and explore the Moon. <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/coeci/ntl\">NASA Tournament Lab</a>, part of STMD's Prizes and Challenges program,\r\nmanages the challenge. The program supports the use of public competitions and\r\ncrowdsourcing as tools to advance NASA R&amp;D and other mission needs.</p>", "<p>Learn\r\nmore about opportunities to participate in your space program via NASA prizes\r\nand challenges: </p>", "<p><a href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/solve\">www.nasa.gov/solve</a></p>", "<p>Artemis\r\nincludes sending a suite of new science instruments and technology\r\ndemonstrations to study the Moon, landing the first woman and next man on the\r\nlunar surface by 2024, and establishing a sustained presence by 2028. The\r\nagency will leverage its Artemis experience and technologies to prepare for the\r\nnext giant leap - sending astronauts to Mars.</p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/moon/20200409/minipayload20200409-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7633", "title": "NASA Selects Early-Stage Technology Concepts for New, Continued Study", "introduction": "Among the five JPL-led efforts chosen, a concept to image distant Earth-like planets orbiting other stars has received a $2 million grant for further development.", "updated_at": "2020-04-07 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>Future\r\ntechnologies that could enable quicker trips to Mars and robotic exploration of\r\nocean worlds might have started out as <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/index.html\">NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts</a> (NIAC). The program, which invests in early-stage\r\ntechnology ideas from NASA, industry and academic researchers across the\r\ncountry, has selected 23 potentially revolutionary concepts with a total award\r\nvalue of $7 million.</p>", "<p>Among the selections are 16 new concepts\r\nand seven studies that previously received at least one NIAC award. A full list\r\nof the 2020 Phase I, II and III selections can be found <a href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2020_Phase_I_Phase_II\">here</a>.</p>", "<p>\"NIAC is an innovative program\r\nthat encourages researchers - and the agency - to think outside of the box for\r\nsolutions that could overcome challenges facing future science and exploration\r\nmissions,\" said Walt Engelund, the deputy associate administrator for\r\nprograms within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). \"We're\r\nexcited about the new concepts and to see how additional time and resources\r\nadvances the research selected for follow-on Phase II and III studies.\"</p>", "<p>A mission concept to image Earth-like\r\nplanets outside of the solar system was selected for a Phase III study. Slava\r\nTuryshev, a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,\r\nCalifornia, will receive a $2 million grant to further mature the concept and\r\nrelated technologies.</p>", "<p>During his <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2017_Phase_I_Phase_II/Solar_Gravity_Lens_Mission\">Phase I</a> and <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2018_Phase_I_Phase_II/Direct_Multipixel_Imaging_and_Spectroscopy\">Phase II</a> NIAC research,\r\nTuryshev outlined the feasibility of a solar gravity lens to enable enhanced\r\nviewing of planets orbiting other stars, known as <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/what-is-an-exoplanet/about-exoplanets/\">exoplanets</a>. He also\r\ndeveloped a mission architecture that uses multiple small spacecraft and solar\r\nsail technology to propel them to their target destination 50 billion miles\r\naway from Earth.</p>", "<p>\"This is only the <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invests-in-tech-concepts-aimed-at-exploring-lunar-craters-mining-asteroids\">third study</a> selected for\r\nPhase III funding in the history of the program,\" said NIAC Program\r\nExecutive Jason Derleth. \"We're excited by its potential to bring us\r\ncloser to imaging an exoplanet in detail, at a resolution comparable to the well-known Apollo 8 <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/apollo-8-earthrise\">Earthrise</a> photo.\" </p>", "<p>The selected Phase I and II studies\r\nwill explore the overall viability of a technology and develop them into\r\nmission concepts. Areas researchers will study include mapping asteroids and\r\nother small bodies in the solar system with hopping probes, making pharmaceuticals\r\non-demand in space, and extracting water on the Moon. Several of the concepts\r\ncould inform capabilities relevant to NASA's\r\n<a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis</a> program, which\r\nwill land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 and establish a\r\nsustainable presence on and around the Moon by 2028.</p>", "<p>NASA selected the proposals through a\r\npeer-review process that evaluates innovation and technical viability. All\r\nprojects are still in the early stages of development, with most requiring a\r\ndecade or more of technology maturation, and are not official NASA missions.</p>", "<p>NIAC supports visionary research ideas\r\nthrough multiple progressive phases of study. Phase I studies receive $125,000\r\nand are nine-month efforts. Eligible recipients of Phase I awards can submit proposals\r\nfor a follow-on Phase II study. Selected Phase II researchers receive $500,000\r\ngrants to further develop their concepts for up to two years. Phase III is\r\ndesigned to strategically transition NIAC concepts with the highest potential\r\nimpact for NASA other government agencies or commercial partners. Phase III\r\nresearchers receive $2 million grants to develop and mature their mission\r\nconcept over two years.</p>", "<p>NIAC is funded by STMD, which is\r\nresponsible for developing the new cross-cutting technologies and capabilities\r\nneeded by the agency to achieve its current and future missions.</p>", "<p>For more information about NASA's\r\ninvestments in space technology, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech</b></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/kepler/20140417/pia17999-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7639", "title": "Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planet Found Hidden in Early NASA Kepler Data", "introduction": "While the star it orbits is much smaller than our Sun, it gets about 75% of the sunlight Earth does. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed Kepler mission development.", "updated_at": "2020-04-15 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>A team of transatlantic scientists, using\r\nreanalyzed data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, has discovered an Earth-size\r\n<a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/\">exoplanet</a> orbiting in its star's habitable zone, the area around a star where a\r\nrocky planet could support liquid water.</p>", "<p>Scientists discovered this planet, called\r\nKepler-1649c, when looking through old observations from Kepler, <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7272\">which the agency retired in 2018</a>. While previous\r\nsearches with a computer algorithm misidentified it, researchers reviewing\r\nKepler data took a second look at the signature and recognized it as a planet.\r\nOut of all the exoplanets found by Kepler, this distant world - located 300\r\nlight-years from Earth - is most similar to Earth in size and estimated temperature.\r\n</p>", "<p>This newly revealed world is only 1.06\r\ntimes larger than our own planet. Also, the amount of starlight it receives from\r\nits host star is 75% of the amount of light Earth receives from our Sun - meaning\r\nthe exoplanet's temperature may be similar to our planet's as well. But unlike\r\nEarth, it orbits a red dwarf. Though none have been observed in this system,\r\nthis type of star is known for stellar flare-ups that may make a planet's\r\nenvironment challenging for any potential life.</p>", "<p>\"This intriguing, distant world gives\r\nus even greater hope that a second Earth lies among the stars, waiting to be\r\nfound,\" said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science\r\nMission Directorate in Washington. \"The data gathered by missions like\r\nKepler and our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite [TESS] will continue to yield amazing discoveries as the science\r\ncommunity refines its abilities to look for promising planets year after year.\"</p>", "<p>There is still much that is unknown about\r\nKepler-1649c, including its atmosphere, which could affect the planet's\r\ntemperature. Current calculations of the planet's size have significant margins\r\nof error, as do all values in astronomy when studying objects so far away. But\r\nbased on what is known, Kepler-1649c is especially intriguing for scientists\r\nlooking for worlds with potentially habitable conditions.</p>", "<p>There are other exoplanets estimated to be\r\ncloser to Earth in size, such as <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/3454/trappist-1-f/\">TRAPPIST-1f</a> and, by some calculations, <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/7424/teegardens-star-c/\">Teegarden c</a>. Others may be closer to Earth in\r\ntemperature, such as <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/5502/trappist-1-d/\">TRAPPIST-1d</a> and <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-planet-hunter-finds-its-1st-earth-size-habitable-zone-world\">TOI 700d</a>. But there is no other exoplanet that is\r\nconsidered to be closer to Earth in both of these values that also lies in the\r\nhabitable zone of its system. </p>", "<p>\"Out of all the mislabeled planets we've\r\nrecovered, this one's particularly exciting - not just because it's in the\r\nhabitable zone and Earth-size, but because of how it might interact with this\r\nneighboring planet,\" said Andrew Vanderburg, a researcher at the\r\nUniversity of Texas at Austin and first author on the <a href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab84e5\">paper released today</a> in The\r\nAstrophysical Journal Letters. \"If we hadn't looked over the algorithm's\r\nwork by hand, we would have missed it.\"</p>", "<p>Kepler-1649c orbits its small red dwarf\r\nstar so closely that a year on Kepler-1649c is equivalent to only 19.5 Earth\r\ndays. The system has another rocky planet of about the same size, but it orbits\r\nthe star at about half the distance of Kepler-1649c, similar to how Venus\r\norbits our Sun at about half the distance that Earth does. Red dwarf stars are\r\namong the most common in the galaxy, meaning planets like this one could be\r\nmore common than we previously thought.</p>", "<p><b>Looking for False Positives</b></p>", "<p>Previously, scientists on the Kepler\r\nmission developed an algorithm called Robovetter to help sort through the\r\nmassive amounts of data produced by the Kepler spacecraft, managed by NASA's\r\nAmes Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. Kepler searched for\r\nplanets using the transit method, staring at stars, looking for dips in\r\nbrightness as planets passed in front of their host stars.</p>", "<p>Most of the time, those dips come from\r\nphenomena other than planets - ranging from natural changes in a star's\r\nbrightness to other cosmic objects passing by - making it look like a planet is\r\nthere when it's not. Robovetter's job was to distinguish the 12% of dips that\r\nwere real planets from the rest. Those signatures Robovetter determined to be\r\nfrom other sources were labeled \"false positives,\" the term for a\r\ntest result mistakenly classified as positive.</p>", "<p>With an enormous number of tricky signals,\r\nastronomers knew the algorithm would make mistakes and would need to be double-checked\r\n- a perfect job for the Kepler False Positive Working Group. That team reviews\r\nRobovetter's work, going through each false positive to ensure they are truly\r\nerrors and not exoplanets, ensuring fewer potential discoveries are overlooked.\r\nAs it turns out, Robovetter had mislabeled Kepler-1649c.</p>", "<p>Even as scientists work to further automate\r\nanalysis processes to get the most science as possible out of any given dataset,\r\nthis discovery shows the value of double-checking automated work. Even six years\r\nafter Kepler stopped collecting data from the original Kepler field - a patch\r\nof sky it stared at from 2009 to 2013, before going on to study many more\r\nregions - this rigorous analysis uncovered one of the most unique Earth analogs\r\ndiscovered yet. </p>", "<p><b>A Possible Third Planet</b></p>", "<p>Kepler-1649c not only is one of the best\r\nmatches to Earth in terms of size and energy received from its star, but it\r\nprovides an entirely new look at its home system. For every nine times the\r\nouter planet in the system orbits the host star, the inner planet orbits almost\r\nexactly four times. The fact that their orbits match up in such a stable ratio\r\nindicates the system itself is extremely stable and likely to survive for a\r\nlong time.</p>", "<p>Nearly perfect period ratios are often\r\ncaused by a phenomenon called orbital resonance, but a nine-to-four ratio is\r\nrelatively unique among planetary systems. Usually resonances take the form of\r\nratios such as two-to-one or three-to-two. Though unconfirmed, the rarity of\r\nthis ratio could hint to the presence of a middle planet with which both the\r\ninner and outer planets revolve in synchronicity, creating a pair of\r\nthree-to-two resonances.</p>", "<p>The team looked for evidence of such a\r\nmystery third planet, with no results. However, that could be because the planet\r\nis too small to see or at an orbital tilt that makes it impossible to find\r\nusing Kepler's transit method.</p>", "<p>Either way, this system provides yet\r\nanother example of an Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a red dwarf\r\nstar. These small and dim stars require planets to orbit extremely close to be\r\nwithin that zone - not too warm and not too cold - for life as we know it to\r\npotentially exist. Though this single example is only <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/nasas-kepler-discovers-first-earth-size-planet-in-the-habitable-zone-of-another-star\">one</a> <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/study-planet-orbiting-nearest-star-could-be-habitable\">among</a> <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1419/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around-single-star/\">many</a>, there is <a href=\"https://arxiv.org/abs/1109.1819\">increasing</a> <a href=\"https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019AJ....158...75H/abstract\">evidence</a> that such planets are common around red\r\ndwarfs.</p>", "<p>\"The more data we get, the more signs\r\nwe see pointing to the notion that potentially habitable and Earth-size\r\nexoplanets are common around these kinds of stars,\" said Vanderburg. \"With\r\nred dwarfs almost everywhere around our galaxy, and these small, potentially\r\nhabitable and rocky planets around them, the chance one of them isn't too\r\ndifferent than our Earth looks a bit brighter.\"</p>", "<p>For more information about Kepler and its\r\ndiscoveries, go to: </p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/kepler\"><b>https://</b><b>www.nasa.gov/kepler</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/kepler/20200415/PIA23690-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7635", "title": "In a First, NASA Measures Wind Speed on a Brown Dwarf", "introduction": "Not quite planets and not quite stars, brown dwarfs are cosmic in-betweeners. Learning about their atmospheres could help us understand giant planets around other stars.", "updated_at": "2020-04-09 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>For the first time, scientists have directly measured wind speed on a brown dwarf, an object larger than Jupiter (the largest planet in our solar system) but not quite massive enough to become a star. To achieve the finding, they used a new method that could also be applied to learn about the atmospheres of gas-dominated planets outside our solar system.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Described in a paper in the journal Science, the work combines observations by a group of radio telescopes with data from NASA's recently retired infrared observatory, the <a href=\"http://spitzer.caltech.edu/\">Spitzer Space Telescope</a>, managed by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Officially named 2MASS J10475385+2124234, the target of the new study was a brown dwarf located 32 light-years from Earth - a stone's throw away, cosmically speaking. The researchers detected winds moving around the planet at 1,425 mph (2,293 kph). For comparison, Neptune's atmosphere features the <a href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/neptune/overview/\">fastest winds in the solar system</a>, which whip through at more than 1,200 mph (about 2,000 kph).</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Measuring wind speed on Earth means clocking the motion of our gaseous atmosphere relative to the planet's solid surface. But brown dwarfs are composed almost entirely of gas, so \"wind\" refers to something slightly different. The upper layers of a brown dwarf are where portions of the gas can move independently. At a certain depth, the pressure becomes so intense that the gas behaves like a single, solid ball that is considered the object's interior. As the interior rotates, it pulls the upper layers - the atmosphere -along so that the two are almost in synch.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/spitzer/20200409/Brown-Dwarf-Comparison-640.jpg\" alt=\"Brown dwarf comparison\"> <br>\r\n\r\nBrown dwarfs are more massive than planets but not quite as massive as stars. Generally speaking, they have between 13 and 80 times the mass of Jupiter. A brown dwarf becomes a star if its core pressure gets high enough to start nuclear fusion. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech <br> <a href=\"https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23685\" alt=\"Brown dwarf comparison\">+Full image and caption</a>\r\n</p>", "<p>In their study, the researchers measured the slight difference in speed of the brown dwarf's atmosphere relative to its interior. With an atmospheric temperature of over 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit (600 degrees Celsius), this particular brown dwarf radiates a substantial amount of infrared light. Coupled with its close proximity to Earth, this characteristic made it possible for Spitzer to detect features in the brown dwarf's atmosphere as they rotate in and out of view. The team used those features to clock the atmospheric rotation speed.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>To determine the speed of the interior, they focused on the brown dwarf's magnetic field. A relatively recent discovery found that the interiors of brown dwarfs generate strong magnetic fields. As the brown dwarf rotates, the magnetic field accelerates charged particles that in turn produce radio waves, which the researchers detected with the radio telescopes in the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p><strong>Planetary Atmospheres</strong></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>The new study is the first to demonstrate this comparative method for measuring wind speed on a brown dwarf. To gauge its accuracy, the group tested the technique using infrared and radio observations of Jupiter, which is also composed mostly of gas and has a physical structure similar to a small brown dwarf. The team compared the rotation rates of Jupiter's atmosphere and interior using data that was similar to what they were able to collect for the much more distant brown dwarf. They then confirmed their calculation for Jupiter's wind speed using more detailed data collected by probes that have studied Jupiter up close, thus demonstrating that their approach for the brown dwarf worked.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Scientists have <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2007-055\">previously used Spitzer</a> to infer the presence of <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/232/5400mph-winds-discovered-hurtling-around-planet-outside-solar-system/\">winds on exoplanets and brown dwarfs</a> based on variations in the brightness of their atmospheres in infrared light. And data from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) - an instrument on the European Southern Observatory's La Silla telescope in Chile - has been used to make a direct measurement of <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/232/5400mph-winds-discovered-hurtling-around-planet-outside-solar-system/\">wind speeds on a distant planet</a>.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>But the new paper represents the first time scientists have directly compared the atmospheric speed with the speed of a brown dwarf's interior. The method employed could be applied to other brown dwarfs or to large planets if the conditions are right, according to the authors.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>\"We think this technique could be really valuable to providing insight into the dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres,\" said lead author Katelyn Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. \"What's really exciting is being able to learn about how the chemistry, the atmospheric dynamics and the environment around an object are interconnected, and the prospect of getting a really comprehensive view into these worlds.\"</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>The Spitzer Space Telescope was decomissioned on Jan. 30, 2020, after more than 16 years in space. JPL managed Spitzer mission operations for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Spitzer science data continue to be analyzed by the science community via the Spitzer data archive located at the Infrared Science Archive housed at IPAC at Caltech. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>For more information about Spitzer, visit:</p>", "<p></p>", "<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer\"><strong>https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer</strong></a></p>", "<p align=\"center\"></p>", "<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/\"><strong>http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/</strong></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/spitzer/20200409/PIA23684-Cool-Brown-Dwarf-MAIN-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7640", "title": "Simulating Early Ocean Vents Shows Life's Building Blocks Form Under Pressure", "introduction": "By mimicking rocky seafloor chimneys in the lab, scientists have produced new evidence that these features could have provided the right ingredients to kick-start life.", "updated_at": "2020-04-15 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>Where did life first form on Earth? Some scientists think it\r\ncould have been around hydrothermal vents that may have existed at the bottom\r\nof the ocean 4.5 billion years ago. In a new paper in the journal Astrobiology,\r\nscientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory describe how they mimicked possible\r\nancient undersea environments with a complex experimental setup. They showed\r\nthat under extreme pressure, fluid from these ancient seafloor cracks mixed\r\nwith ocean water could have reacted with minerals from the hydrothermal vents\r\nto produce organic molecules - the building blocks that compose nearly all life\r\non Earth.</p>", "<p>In particular, the research lays important groundwork for in-depth\r\nstudies of such ocean worlds as Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon\r\nEuropa, which are both thought to have liquid-water oceans buried beneath thick\r\nicy crusts and may host hydrothermal activity similar to what's being simulated\r\nat JPL. This area of research belongs to a field of study known as astrobiology,\r\nand the work was done by the <a href=\"https://nai.nasa.gov/teams/can-5/jpl-icy-worlds/\">JPL Icy Worlds team</a> as\r\npart of the former NASA Astrobiology Institute.</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nSome scientists think the story of life on Earth may have started around hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory mimicked those ancient undersea environments with a complex experimental setup.\r\n</p>", "<p><b>Under\r\nthe Ancient Sea</b></p>", "<p>To simulate conditions that might have existed on the ocean\r\nfloor of a newly formed Earth, before the sea teemed with life, then-graduate\r\nstudent Lauren White and colleagues conducted an experiment that brought\r\ntogether three key ingredients: hydrogen-rich water, like the kind that could\r\nhave flowed out from beneath the seafloor through vents; seawater enriched with\r\ncarbon dioxide, as it would have been from the ancient atmosphere; and a few\r\nminerals that might have formed in that environment.</p>", "<p>White and colleagues - including her graduate advisor,\r\nretired JPL scientist Michael Russell - simulated vents that didn't spew particularly\r\nhot water (it was only about 212 Fahrenheit, or 100 degrees Celsius). One major\r\nchallenge with creating the experimental setup was maintaining the same\r\npressure found 0.6 miles (1 kilometers) below the ocean surface - about 100\r\ntimes the air pressure at sea level. Previous experiments have tested similar\r\nchemical reactions in individual high-pressure chambers, but White and her\r\ncolleagues wanted to more fully replicate the physical properties of these\r\nenvironments, including the way the fluids flow and mix together. This would\r\nrequire maintaining the high pressure in multiple chambers, which added to the\r\ncomplexity of the project. (Because a crack or leak in even a single\r\nhigh-pressure chamber poses the threat of an explosion, it's standard operating\r\nprocedure in such cases to install a blast shield between the apparatus and the\r\nscientists.) </p>", "<p>The scientists wanted to determine whether such ancient conditions\r\ncould have produced organic molecules - those containing carbon atoms in loops\r\nor chains, as well as with other atoms, most commonlyhydrogen.\r\nExamples of complex organic molecules include amino acids, which can eventually\r\nform DNA and RNA. </p>", "<p>But just as eggs, flour, butter and sugar aren't the same\r\nthing as a cake, the presence of both carbon and hydrogen in the early oceans doesn't\r\nguarantee the formation of organic molecules. While a carbon and a hydrogen\r\natom might reasonably bump into each other in this prehistoric ocean, they wouldn't\r\nautomatically join to form an organic compound. That process requires energy,\r\nand just like a ball won't roll up a hill by itself, carbon and hydrogen won't\r\nbind together without an energetic push. </p>", "<p>A previous study by White and her colleagues showed that water\r\npulsing through hydrothermal vents could have formed iron sulfides. By acting\r\nas a catalyst, iron sulfides could provide that energetic push, lowering the\r\namount of energy required for carbon and hydrogen to react together, and\r\nincreasing the likelihood they would form organics. </p>", "<p>The new experiment tested whether this reaction would have\r\nbeen likely to occur under the physical conditions around ancient seafloor vents,\r\nif such vents existed at the time. The answer? Yes. The team created formate and\r\ntrace amounts of methane, both organic molecules. </p>", "<p><b>Signs\r\nof Life</b></p>", "<p>Naturally occurring methane on Earth is produced largely by\r\nliving organisms or through the decay of biological material, including plants\r\nand animals. Could methane on other planets also be a sign of biological\r\nactivity? To use methane to search for life on other worlds, scientists need to\r\nunderstand both its biological and non-biological sources, such as the one\r\nidentified by White and her colleagues. </p>", "<p>\"I think it's really significant that we showed that\r\nthese reactions take place in the presence of those physical factors, like the\r\npressure and the flow,\" said White. \"We are still a long way from\r\ndemonstrating that life could have formed in these environments. But if anyone\r\never wants to make that case, I think we'll need to have demonstrated the\r\nfeasibility of every step of the process; we can't take anything for\r\ngranted.\" </p>", "<p>The work builds on Michael Russell's hypothesis that life\r\non Earth may have formed at the bottom of Earth's early ocean. The formation of\r\norganic molecules would be a major step in this process. Scientists in the same\r\nJPL research group have explored other aspects of this work, such as\r\nreplicating the chemical conditions in the early ocean to demonstrate <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7340\">how\r\namino acids might form there</a>. However, the new study is\r\nunique in the way it re-created the physical conditions of those environments. </p>", "<p>In the next few years, NASA will launch Europa Clipper,\r\nwhich will orbit Jupiter and perform multiple flybys of the icy moon Europa.\r\nScientists believe plumes there may spew water into space from the moon's\r\nocean, which lies beneath about 2 to 20 miles (3 to 30 kilometers) of ice. These\r\nplumes could provide information about possible hydrothermal processes at the\r\nbottom of the ocean, thought to be about 50 miles (80 kilometers) deep. The new\r\npaper contributes to a growing understanding of the chemistry that might take\r\nplace in oceans other than our own, which will help scientists interpret\r\nfindings of that mission and others to come. </p>", "<p>For more information on astrobiology at NASA, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/\"><b>https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/astrobiology/20200415/PIA23686-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7636", "title": "Mars Helicopter Attached to NASA's Perseverance Rover", "introduction": "The team also fueled the rover's sky crane to get ready for this summer's history-making launch.", "updated_at": "2020-04-10 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>With the launch period of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance\r\nrover opening in 14 weeks, final preparations of the spacecraft continue at the\r\nKennedy Space Center in Florida. In the past week, the assembly, test and launch\r\noperations team completed important milestones, fueling the descent stage -\r\nalso known as the sky crane - and attaching the Mars Helicopter, which will be\r\nthe first aircraft in history to attempt power-controlled flight on another\r\nplanet. </p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200409/PIA23824-16.jpg\"><img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200409/PIA23824-640.jpg\" alt=\"Mars Helicopter\"></a> <br>\r\nThe Mars Helicopter, visible in lower center of the image, was attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover at Kennedy Space Center on April 6, 2020. The helicopter will be deployed onto the Martian surface about two-and-a-half months after Perseverance lands. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech\r\n<br>   <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA23824\">\u203a Full image and caption</a>\r\n</p>", "<p>Over the\r\nweekend, 884 pounds (401 kilograms) of hydrazine monopropellant were loaded\r\ninto the descent stage's four fuel tanks. As the aeroshell containing the\r\ndescent stage and rover enter the Martian atmosphere on Feb. 18, 2021, the\r\npropellant will be pressure-fed through 120 feet (37 meters) of stainless steel\r\nand titanium tubing into eight Mars landing engines. The engines' job: to slow the\r\nspacecraft, which will be traveling at about 180 mph (80\r\nmeters per second) when it's 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) in altitude, to 1.7 mph\r\n(0.75 meters per second) by the time it's about 66 feet (20\r\nmeters) above the surface. </p>", "<p>Maintaining\r\nthis rate of descent, the stage will then perform the sky crane maneuver: Nylon\r\ncords spool out to lower the rover 25 feet (7.6 meters) below the descent stage;\r\nWhen the spacecraft senses touchdown at Jezero Crater, the connecting cords are\r\nsevered and the descent stage flies off. </p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200409/trn-640x360.gif\"><img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200409/trn-640x360.gif\" alt=\"Animation of descent stage\"></a> <br>\r\nNASA's Mars 2020 mission will have an autopilot that helps guide it to safer landings on the Red Planet. <br> Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech\r\n<br> <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200409/trn-640x360.gif\"> Larger view</a>\r\n</p>", "<p>\"The last hundred days before any\r\nMars launch is chock-full of significant milestones,\" said David Gruel, the Mars 2020\r\nassembly, test and launch operations manager at JPL. \"Fueling the descent stage is a big step. While we will\r\ncontinue to test and evaluate its performance as we move forward with launch\r\npreparations, it is now ready to fulfill its mission of placing\r\nPerseverance on the surface on Mars.\" </p>", "<p><b>The\r\nHelicopter</b></p>", "<p>After\r\nthe descent stage fueling, the system that will deliver the Mars Helicopter to\r\nthe surface of the Red Planet was integrated with Perseverance. The helicopter,\r\nwhich weighs 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) and features propellers 4 feet (1.2\r\nmeters) in diameter, is cocooned within the delivery system. In one of the\r\nfirst steps in the day-long process on April 6, technicians and engineers made 34\r\nelectrical connections between the rover, the helicopter and its delivery\r\nsystem on the rover's belly. After confirming data and commands could be sent\r\nand received, they attached the delivery system to the rover. </p>", "<p>Finally,\r\nthe team confirmed the helicopter could receive an electrical charge from the\r\nrover. Before being deployed onto the surface of Jezero Crater, the Mars\r\nHelicopter will rely on the rover for power. Afterward, it will generate its\r\nown electrical power through a solar panel located above its twin\r\ncounter-rotating propellers.</p>", "<p>The\r\nhelicopter will remain encapsulated on the rover's belly for the next year and\r\nwill be deployed around the beginning of May - roughly two-and-a-half months after\r\nPerseverance's landing. Once the rover drives about 330 feet (100 meters) away and\r\nthe helicopter undergoes an extensive systems check, it will execute a\r\nflight-test campaign for up to 30 days.</p>", "<p>The Perseverance rover is a robotic scientist weighing 2,260\r\npounds (1,025 kilograms). It will search for signs of past microbial life,\r\ncharacterize the planet's climate and geology, collect samples for future\r\nreturn to Earth and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. No\r\nmatter what day Perseverance launches during its July 17-Aug. 5 launch period,\r\nit will land on Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.</p>", "<p>The Mars 2020 Perseverance\r\nrover mission is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as\r\na way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with\r\nreturning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human\r\npresence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis\r\nlunar exploration plans</a>.</p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation about the mission, go to:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/\"><b>https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>For more about\r\nNASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>DC Agle<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California<br>\r\n818-393-9011<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:david.c.agle@jpl.nasa.gov\">david.c.agle@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Grey Hautaluoma / Alana Johnson<br>\r\nNASA Headquarters, Washington<br>\r\n202-358-0668 / 202-358-1501<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov\">grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov</a> / <a href=\"mailto:alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov\">alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>2020-068</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200409/PIA23823-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7637", "title": "NASA Marks Earth Day's 50th Anniversary with #EarthDayAtHome", "introduction": "From podcasts to live Q&A sessions to image galleries, the agency offers an entire world of ways to celebrate and learn more about our home planet.", "updated_at": "2020-04-10 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>As the world\r\nobserves the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22,\r\nNASA is highlighting the agency's many contributions to sustaining and\r\nimproving our home planet's environment with a week of online events, stories\r\nand resources.</p>", "<p>NASA's investment in space - both the unique Earth science\r\nwe conduct from orbit and the technology we've developed by living in space and\r\nexploring our solar system and universe - is returning benefits every day to\r\npeople around the world, particularly those who are working on environmental\r\nissues. From documenting Earth's changing climate to creating green\r\ntechnologies to save energy and natural resources, NASA is helping us all live more sustainably\r\non our home planet and adapt to natural and human-caused changes.</p>", "<p>Due to the\r\nongoing COVID-19 pandemic, no in-person NASA activities are planned for Earth\r\nDay. However, NASA is bringing people together virtually for Earth Day with new\r\nonline content, programming and activities, including an extensive array of\r\nat-home projects in the #EarthDayAtHome collection, which debuts Thursday, April\r\n16.</p>", "<p>NASA's observation\r\nof the Earth Day golden anniversary began on March 3 with a \"50-Day\r\nCountdown\" of daily social media posts highlighting many of the agency's Earth\r\nimages and environmental projects. All of these posts are available on a <a href=\"https://blogs.nasa.gov/earthdaycountdown/\">blog</a> updated daily on NASA's Earth Day <a href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/earthday\">website</a>, which also includes a <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/earth-day-2020-50th-anniversary-toolkit\">toolkit</a> of activities for students and\r\nfamilies. New content will be posted to the site beginning Monday, April 13.\r\nThe <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/nasaearth/\">NASA Earth Facebook</a> account and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nasaearth\">@NASAEarth</a> on Twitter and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nasaearth/\">Instagram</a> also will have special content through\r\nEarth Day.</p>", "<p>Highlights of\r\nNASA Earth Day content and activities over the next two weeks:</p>", "<p><b>Monday, April 13</b></p>", "<p><i>NASA's </i><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/curiousuniverse\"><i>Curious\r\nUniverse</i></a><i> podcast</i><i>- </i>From the sights and sounds of the Amazon\r\nrainforest, where scientists study how this massive ecosystem is changing, to\r\nLos Angeles, where Annmarie Eldering - a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion\r\nLaboratory - found her calling to study air pollution, this episode takes\r\nlisteners on a tour of the many ways the agency observes and studies our home\r\nplanet.</p>", "<p><b>Wednesday, April 15</b></p>", "<p><i>Make Your Own Satellite View of Earth</i> - Explore 20 years of satellite views\r\nof our home planet in NASA's online data archive and create your own Earth Day\r\nsnapshot or animated GIF with the NASA <a href=\"https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/\">Worldview</a> data visualization application. An\r\neasy-to-use map interface lets you explore this global archive to see\r\nhurricanes forming, wildfires spreading, icebergs drifting and more. A special\r\nEarth Day <a href=\"https://earthdata.nasa.gov/worldview/earth-day-satellite-views\">gallery of images</a> will be available on April 15 for\r\ninspiration along with a tutorial to help you use Worldview to create your own\r\nEarth Day images. </p>", "<p><b>Thursday, April 16</b></p>", "<p><i>NASA's Earth Day at Home</i> - Although people around the world are\r\nsocially distancing, NASA is creating an opportunity to observe Earth Day\r\nvirtually with the #EarthDayAtHome collection of new and curated activities and\r\ninformation that debuts on Thursday, April 16 on <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/earthday\">nasa.gov/earthday</a>. The collection includes at-home\r\nscience activities, videos from Earth and space, downloadable posters, social\r\nmedia engagement and more. Many resources will be available in both English and\r\nSpanish. Everyone is encouraged to share images of what they did to observe\r\nEarth Day using the hashtag #EarthDayAtHome.</p>", "<p><i>Lecture: \"How NASA Observes Earth from\r\nAir and Orbit\"</i> - NASA's JPL\r\nwill host a <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.php?year=2020&amp;month=4\">livestream</a> of its monthly von K\u00e1rm\u00e1n lecture on how NASA monitors\r\nglobal change from space and from closer to the ground, with aircraft, boats\r\nand buoys. This webcast will be conducted via video conference, with speakers\r\njoining remotely from home. Watch live at 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST) via <a href=\"https://youtu.be/DyEBF-_d7A8\">YouTube</a> and submit your questions\r\nvia the chat feature.</p>", "<p><b>Wednesday, April 22</b></p>", "<p><i>\"NASA\r\nScience Live\" broadcast </i>- The Earth\r\nDay episode will feature experts from around the\r\nagency talking about how NASA science and technology are used to understand and\r\nimprove our environment. The half-hour program will explore important\r\ndiscoveries about our home planet, advances in green technology and aircraft,\r\nand a new interactive app to let anyone at home help NASA map coral reefs\r\naround the world. The program airs at 12 p.m. PST (3 p.m. EST) on <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive\">NASA TV</a>, <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive\">YouTube\r\nPremiere</a>, <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/NASA/\">Facebook Watch Party</a>, <a href=\"https://www.pscp.tv/NASA/\">Periscope/Twitter</a> and Ustream.</p>", "<p><i>Earth Science Video Talks - </i>NASA Earth science experts have recorded\r\na series of short videos on a wide range of topics, from scientific advances\r\nsince the first Earth Day to research expeditions in the air and on the ground.\r\nThe series will be posted in a playlist on NASA's Science Mission Directorate <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/ScienceAtNASA\">YouTube channel</a>.</p>", "<p><i>Live\r\nQ&amp;A with Astronaut Chris Cassidy </i>- NASA's\r\nChris Cassidy, who just arrived at the International Space Station on April 9,\r\nwill answer questions submitted by social media users wanting to know more\r\nabout his spaceflight experience and his views of our home planet from 250\r\nmiles above. Viewers can tune in to NASA TV starting at 9:10 a.m. PST (12:10\r\np.m. EST) to see questions answered live from the orbiting laboratory.</p>", "<p><i>Tumblr Answer\r\nTime: NASA Earth Science </i>- In\r\ncollaboration with Tumblr, Sandra Cauffman, acting director of NASA's Earth\r\nScience Division, and Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science\r\nMission Directorate, will go live on NASA's <a href=\"http://nasa.tumblr.com/\">blog</a> to answer questions submitted by\r\nfollowers about how the agency uses space to protect and sustain our home\r\nplanet. Users across <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/NASA\">Facebook</a>, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NASA\">Twitter</a> and Tumblr will be able to submit\r\nquestions starting Monday, April 13. The two experts will engage directly with\r\nusers by recording video answers from their homes for the agency's first-ever\r\nAnswer Time hosted by NASA science leadership. Videos will be released from 10-11\r\na.m. PST (1-2 p.m. EST) on <a href=\"https://nasa.tumblr.com/\">NASA's Tumblr blog</a>. </p>", "<p><i>Instagram Takeover with Astronaut\r\nJessica Meir</i> - In a\r\ncollaboration with Instagram, NASA's Jessica Meir created a series of short\r\nvideos from the International Space Station about the science done on the station\r\nand how it relates back to Earth. The videos will be released from <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/instagram/\">Instagram</a> on Earth Day while NASA social media accounts\r\nshare related content. Instagram will also feature a love letter to Earth from\r\nspace written by Meir while on board the station.</p>", "<p>Learn more\r\nabout NASA's Earth science programs at:</p>", "<p><b><a href->https://www.nasa.gov/earth</a></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/20200410/ed2020-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7632", "title": "Data From NASA's Cassini May Explain Saturn's Atmospheric Mystery", "introduction": "New mapping of the giant planet's upper atmosphere reveals likely reason why it's so hot.", "updated_at": "2020-04-06 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>The upper\r\nlayers in the atmospheres of gas giants - Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune -\r\nare hot, just like Earth's. But unlike Earth, the Sun is too far from these\r\nouter planets to account for the high temperatures. Their heat source has been one\r\nof the great mysteries of planetary science. </p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nTo learn more about Saturn, zoom in and give the planet a spin. Use the search function at bottom to learn more about its moons - or just about anything else in the solar system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech\r\n</p>", "<p>New analysis of\r\ndata from NASA's Cassini spacecraft finds a viable explanation for what's\r\nkeeping the upper layers of Saturn, and possibly the other gas giants, so hot: auroras\r\nat the planet's north and south poles. Electric currents, triggered by\r\ninteractions between solar winds and charged particles from Saturn's moons,\r\nspark the auroras and heat the upper atmosphere. (As with Earth's northern\r\nlights, studying auroras tells scientists what's going on in the planet's\r\natmosphere.) </p>", "<p>The work,\r\npublished April 6 in Nature Astronomy, is the most complete mapping yet of both\r\ntemperature and density of a gas giant's upper atmosphere - a region that has,\r\nin general, been poorly understood. </p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA06436\"><img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/cassini/20200406/PIA06436-640.jpg\" alt=\"False color image of Saturn\"></a> <br>\r\nThe aurora at Saturn's southern pole is visible in this false-color image. Blue represents the aurora; red-orange is reflected sunlight. The image was gathered by Cassini's ultraviolet imaging spectrograph (UVIS) on June 21, 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Colorado \r\n<br> <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA06436\">Full image and caption</a>\r\n</p>", "<p>By building a\r\ncomplete picture of how heat circulates in the atmosphere, scientists are\r\nbetter able to understand how auroral electric currents heat the upper layers\r\nof Saturn's atmosphere and drive winds. The global wind system can distribute\r\nthis energy, which is initially deposited near the poles toward the equatorial\r\nregions, heating them to twice the temperatures expected from the Sun's heating\r\nalone. </p>", "<p>\"The\r\nresults are vital to our general understanding of planetary upper atmospheres\r\nand are an important part of Cassini's legacy,\" said author Tommi\r\nKoskinen, a member of Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectograph (UVIS) team. \"They\r\nhelp address the question of why the uppermost part of the atmosphere is so hot\r\nwhile the rest of the atmosphere - due to the large distance from the Sun - is\r\ncold.\"</p>", "<p>Managed by\r\nNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Cassini was an orbiter\r\nthat observed Saturn for more than 13 years before exhausting its fuel supply.\r\nThe mission plunged it into the planet's atmosphere in September 2017, in part to\r\nprotect its moon Enceladus, which Cassini discovered might hold conditions\r\nsuitable for life. But before its plunge, Cassini performed 22 ultra-close\r\norbits of Saturn, a final tour called the <a href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/mission/grand-finale/overview/\">Grand Finale</a>. </p>", "<p>It was during\r\nthe Grand Finale that the key data was collected for the new temperature map of\r\nSaturn's atmosphere. For six weeks, Cassini targeted several bright stars in\r\nthe constellations of Orion and Canis Major as they passed behind Saturn. As\r\nthe spacecraft observed the stars rise and set behind the giant planet,\r\nscientists analyzed how the starlight changed as it passed through the\r\natmosphere. </p>", "<p>Measuring the\r\ndensity of the atmosphere gave scientists the information they needed to find\r\nthe temperatures. (Density decreases with altitude, and the rate of decrease\r\ndepends on temperature.) They found that temperatures peak near the auroras,\r\nindicating that auroral electric currents heat the upper atmosphere. </p>", "<p>And both\r\ndensity and temperature measurements together helped scientists figure out wind\r\nspeeds. Understanding Saturn's upper atmosphere, where planet meets space, is\r\nkey to understanding space weather, and its impact on other planets in our\r\nsolar system and exoplanets around other stars. </p>", "<p>The Cassini-Huygens\r\nmission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the\r\nItalian Space Agency. JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the\r\nmission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL designed,\r\ndeveloped and assembled the Cassini orbiter.<br>\r\n<br>\r\nMore information about Cassini can be found here:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/\"><b>https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/cassini</b></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Gretchen McCartney\u00a0\u00a0<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.\u00a0<br>\r\n818-393-6215<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov%C2%A0\">gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov\u00a0</a><br>\r\n<br>\r\nGrey Hautaluoma / Alana Johnson<br>\r\nHeadquarters, Washington<br>\r\n202-358-0668 /\u00a0 202-358-1501<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov\">grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov</a> / <a href=\"mailto:joshua.a.handal@nasa.gov\">alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>2020-064</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/cassini/20200406/PIA13402-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7628", "title": "WFIRST Will Use Warped Space-time to Help Find Exoplanets", "introduction": "The NASA mission will identify planets with large orbits, similar to our solar system's far-flung giants, Uranus and Neptune.", "updated_at": "2020-04-01 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>NASA's Wide Field Infrared\r\nSurvey Telescope (WFIRST) will search for planets outside our solar system toward\r\nthe center of our Milky Way galaxy, where most stars are. Studying the properties\r\nof <a href=\"https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/what-is-an-exoplanet/about-exoplanets/\">exoplanet worlds</a> will help us understand what planetary systems throughout the galaxy\r\nare like and how planets form and evolve.</p>", "<p>Combining WFIRST's findings\r\nwith results from NASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/overview/index.html\">Kepler</a> and <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/tess-transiting-exoplanet-survey-satellite\">Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)</a> missions will complete the first planet census that\r\nis sensitive to a wide range of planet masses and orbits, bringing us a step closer\r\nto discovering habitable Earth-like worlds beyond our own.</p>", "<p>To date, astronomers have\r\nfound most planets when they pass in front of their host star in events called transits,\r\nwhich temporarily dim the star's light. WFIRST data can spot transits, too, but\r\nthe mission will primarily watch for the opposite effect - little surges of radiance\r\nproduced by a light-bending phenomenon called microlensing. These events are much\r\nless common than transits because they rely on the chance alignment of two widely\r\nseparated and unrelated stars drifting through space.</p>", "<p>\"Microlensing signals\r\nfrom small planets are rare and brief, but they're stronger than the signals from\r\nother methods,\" said David Bennett, who leads the gravitational microlensing\r\ngroup at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \"Since\r\nit's a one-in-a-million event, the key to WFIRST finding low-mass planets is to\r\nsearch hundreds of millions of stars.\"</p>", "<p>In addition, microlensing\r\nis better at finding planets in and beyond the habitable zone - the orbital distances\r\nwhere planets might have liquid water on their surfaces.</p>", "<p><b>Microlensing 101</b></p>", "<p>This effect occurs when light\r\npasses near a massive object. Anything with mass warps the fabric of space-time,\r\nsort of like the dent a bowling ball makes when set on a trampoline. Light travels\r\nin a straight line, but if space-time is bent - which happens near something massive,\r\nlike a star - light follows the curve.</p>", "<p>Any time two stars align\r\nclosely from our vantage point, light from the more distant star curves as it travels\r\nthrough the warped space-time of the nearer star. This phenomenon, one of the predictions\r\nof Einstein's general theory of relativity, was <a href=\"https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/testing-general-relativity\">famously confirmed</a> by British physicist Sir Arthur Eddington during\r\na total solar eclipse in 1919. If the alignment is especially close, the nearer\r\nstar acts like a natural cosmic lens, focusing and intensifying light from the background\r\nstar.</p>", "<p>Planets orbiting the foreground\r\nstar may also modify the lensed light, acting as their own tiny lenses. The distortion\r\nthey create allows astronomers to measure the planet's mass and distance from its\r\nhost star. This is how WFIRST will use microlensing to discover new worlds.</p>", "<p><b>Familiar and Exotic Worlds</b></p>", "<p>\"Trying to interpret\r\nplanet populations today is like trying to interpret a picture with half of it covered,\"\r\nsaid Matthew Penny, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana\r\nState University in Baton Rouge who led a study to predict WFIRST's microlensing\r\nsurvey capabilities. \"To fully understand how planetary systems form we need\r\nto find planets of all masses at all distances. No one technique can do this, but\r\nWFIRST's microlensing survey, combined with the results from Kepler and TESS, will\r\nreveal far more of the picture.\"</p>", "<p>More than 4,000 confirmed\r\nexoplanets have been discovered so far, but only 86 were found via microlensing.\r\nThe techniques commonly used to find other worlds are biased toward planets that\r\ntend to be very different from those in our solar system. The transit method, for\r\nexample, is best at finding sub-Neptune-like planets that have orbits much smaller\r\nthan Mercury's. For a solar system like our own, transit studies could miss every\r\nplanet.</p>", "<p>WFIRST's microlensing survey\r\nwill help us find analogs to every planet in our solar system except Mercury, whose\r\nsmall orbit and low mass combine to put it beyond the mission's reach. WFIRST will\r\nfind planets that are the mass of Earth and even smaller - perhaps even large moons,\r\nlike Jupiter's moon Ganymede.</p>", "<p>WFIRST will find planets\r\nin other poorly studied categories, too. Microlensing is best suited to finding\r\nworlds from the habitable zone of their star and farther out. This includes ice\r\ngiants, like Uranus and Neptune in our solar system, and even rogue planets - worlds\r\nfreely roaming the galaxy unbound to any stars.</p>", "<p>While ice giants are a minority\r\nin our solar system, <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/most-common-outer-planets-likely-neptune-mass\">a 2016 study</a> indicated that they may be the most common kind of planet throughout\r\nthe galaxy. WFIRST will put that theory to the test and help us get a better understanding\r\nof which planetary characteristics are most prevalent.</p>", "<p><b>Hidden Gems in the Galactic\r\nCore</b></p>", "<p>WFIRST will explore regions\r\nof the galaxy that haven't yet been systematically scoured for exoplanets due to\r\nthe different goals of previous missions. Kepler, for example, searched a modest-sized\r\nregion of about 100 square degrees with 100,000 stars at typical distances of around\r\na thousand light-years. TESS scans the entire sky and tracks 200,000 stars; however\r\ntheir typical distances are around 100 light-years. WFIRST will search roughly 3\r\nsquare degrees, but will follow 200 million stars at distances of around 10,000\r\nlight-years.</p>", "<p>Since WFIRST is an infrared\r\ntelescope, it will see right through the clouds of dust that block other telescopes\r\nfrom studying planets in the crowded central region of our galaxy. Most ground-based\r\nmicrolensing observations to date have been in visible light, making the center\r\nof the galaxy largely uncharted exoplanet territory. A <a href=\"https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/UKIRTMission.html\">microlensing survey</a> conducted since 2015 using the <a href=\"http://www.ukirt.hawaii.edu/\">United\r\nKingdom Infrared Telescope</a> (UKIRT)\r\nin Hawaii is smoothing the way for WFIRST's exoplanet census by mapping the region.</p>", "<p>The UKIRT survey is providing\r\nthe first measurements of the rate of microlensing events toward the galaxy's core,\r\nwhere stars are most densely concentrated. The results will help astronomers select\r\nthe final observing strategy for WFIRST's microlensing effort.</p>", "<p>The UKIRT team's most recent\r\ngoal is detecting microlensing events using machine learning, which will be vital\r\nfor WFIRST. The mission will produce such a vast amount of data that combing through\r\nit solely by eye will be impractical. Streamlining the search will require automated\r\nprocesses.</p>", "<p>Additional UKIRT results\r\npoint to an observing strategy that will reveal the most microlensing events possible\r\nwhile avoiding the thickest dust clouds that can block even infrared light.</p>", "<p>\"Our current survey\r\nwith UKIRT is laying the groundwork so that WFIRST can implement the first space-based\r\ndedicated microlensing survey,\" said Savannah Jacklin, an astronomer at Vanderbilt\r\nUniversity in Nashville, Tennessee, who has led several UKIRT studies. \"Previous\r\nexoplanet missions expanded our knowledge of planetary systems, and WFIRST will\r\nmove us a giant step closer to truly understanding how planets - particularly those\r\nwithin the habitable zones of their host stars - form and evolve.\"</p>", "<p><b>From Brown Dwarfs to Black\r\nHoles</b></p>", "<p>The same microlensing survey\r\nthat will reveal thousands of planets will also detect hundreds of other bizarre\r\nand interesting cosmic objects. Scientists will be able to study free-floating bodies\r\nwith masses ranging from that of Mars to 100 times the Sun's.</p>", "<p>The low end of the mass range\r\nincludes planets that were ejected from their host stars and now roam the galaxy\r\nas rogue planets. Next are brown dwarfs, which are too massive to be characterized\r\nas planets but not quite massive enough to ignite as stars. Brown dwarfs don't shine\r\nvisibly like stars, but WFIRST will be able to study them in infrared light through\r\nthe heat left over from their formation.</p>", "<p>Objects at the higher end\r\ninclude stellar corpses - neutron stars and black holes - left behind when massive\r\nstars exhaust their fuel. Studying them and measuring their masses will help scientists\r\nunderstand more about stars' death throes while providing a census of stellar-mass\r\nblack holes.</p>", "<p>\"WFIRST's microlensing\r\nsurvey will not only advance our understanding of planetary systems,\" said\r\nPenny, \"it will also enable a whole host of other studies of the variability\r\nof 200 million stars, the structure and formation of the inner Milky Way, and the\r\npopulation of black holes and other dark, compact objects that are hard or impossible\r\nto study in any other way.\"</p>", "<p>The FY2020 Consolidated Appropriations\r\nAct funds the WFIRST program through September 2020. The FY2021 budget request proposes\r\nto terminate funding for the WFIRST mission and focus on the completion of the James\r\nWebb Space Telescope, now planned for launch in March 2021. The Administration is\r\nnot ready to proceed with another multi-billion-dollar telescope until Webb has\r\nbeen successfully launched and deployed.</p>", "<p>WFIRST is managed at Goddard,\r\nwith participation by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena,\r\nthe Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising\r\nscientists from research institutions across the United States.</p>", "<p>For more information about WFIRST, visit: </p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/wfirst-wide-field-infrared-survey-telescope\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/wfirst-wide-field-infrared-survey-telescope</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfirst/20200401/WFIRST20200401-16b.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7624", "title": "10.9 Million Names Now Aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover", "introduction": "As part of NASA's 'Send Your Name to Mars' campaign, they've been stenciled onto three microchips along with essays from NASA's 'Name the Rover' contest. Next stop: Mars.", "updated_at": "2020-03-26 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>NASA's\r\n\"Send Your Name to Mars\" campaign invited people around the world to\r\nsubmit their names to ride aboard the agency's next rover to the Red Planet. Some\r\n10,932,295 people did just that. The names were stenciled by electron beam\r\nonto three fingernail-sized silicon chips, along with the essays of the 155\r\nfinalists in NASA's <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7612\">\"Name the Rover\" contest</a>.The\r\nchips were then were\r\nattached to an aluminum plate on NASA's Perseverance Mars rover at Kennedy\r\nSpace Center in Florida on March 16. Scheduled to launch this summer, Perseverance will land at Jezero\r\nCrater on Feb. 18, 2021.</p>", "<p>The\r\nthree chips share space on the anodized plate with a laser-etched graphic depicting\r\nEarth and Mars joined by the star that gives light to both. While\r\ncommemorating the rover that connects the two worlds, the simple illustration also\r\npays tribute to the elegant line art of the plaques aboard the <a href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/706/pioneer-plaque/\">Pioneer</a> spacecraft\r\nand <a href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/\">golden records carried by Voyagers 1 and\r\n2</a>. Affixed to the center of the\r\nrover's aft crossbeam, the plate will be visible to cameras on Perseverance's\r\nmast. </p>", "<p>Currently,\r\nthe coronavirus has not impacted the Mars Perseverance rover launch schedule. The\r\ninstallation was one of numerous recent activities performed by the\r\nPerseverance assembly, test and launch operations team. On March 21, the team\r\nbegan reconfiguring the rover so it can ride atop the Atlas V rocket. Steps\r\nincluded stowing the robotic arm, lowering and locking in place the remote\r\nsensing mast and high-gain antenna, and retracting its legs and wheels. </p>", "<p>The Perseverance rover is\r\na robotic scientist weighing just under 2,300 pounds (1,043 kilograms). It will\r\nsearch for signs of past microbial life, characterize Mars' climate and\r\ngeology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and help pave the way for\r\nhuman exploration of the Red Planet. </p>", "<p>JPL, a division of Caltech\r\nin Pasadena, is building and will manage operations of the Mars Perseverance\r\nrover for NASA. The agency's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's\r\nKennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. The Mars\r\n2020 project with its Perseverance rover is part of a larger program that\r\nincludes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the\r\nRed Planet. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will\r\nestablish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through\r\nNASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis lunar exploration plans</a>.</p>", "<p>For more information about the mission, go to:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/\"><b>https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/</b></a></p>", "<p>For more about NASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars</b></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Grey Hautaluoma / Alana Johnson<br>\r\nHeadquarters, Washington<br>\r\n202-358-0668 / 202-358-1501<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov\">grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov</a> / <a href=\"mailto:joshua.a.handal@nasa.gov\">alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>DC Agle<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-393-9011<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:david.c.agle@jpl.nasa.gov\">david.c.agle@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>2020-057</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200326/PIA23769-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7627", "title": "#NASAatHome - Let NASA Bring the Universe to Your Home", "introduction": "With podcasts, e-books, DIY projects and more, the agency has lots of fun, informative ways to help you explore the solar system and beyond - no launch vehicle required.", "updated_at": "2020-03-31 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>NASA's new internet and social media special, <a href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/nasaathome\">NASA at Home</a>, will show and engage you\r\nin the agency's discoveries, research, and exploration from around the world\r\nand across the universe - all from the comfort of your own home.</p>", "<p>NASA\r\nat Home offers something for the whole family. It brings together a repository\r\nof binge-worthy <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home-videos\">videos</a> and <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home-podcasts\">podcasts</a>, engaging <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home-e-books\">e-books</a> on a variety of topics,\r\ndo-it-yourself projects, and <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home-virtual-tours-and-augmented-reality\">virtual and augmented reality tours</a>, which include the agency's\r\nHubble Space Telescope and International Space Station, as well as an app that\r\nputs you in the pilot's seat of a NASA aircraft. </p>", "<p>\"We\r\nknow people everywhere, especially students, are looking for ways to get out of\r\nthe house without leaving their house,\" said Bettina Incl\u00e1n, associate\r\nadministrator for NASA's Office of Communications. \"NASA has a way for\r\nthem to look to the skies and see themselves in space with their feet planted\r\nsafely on the ground, but their imaginations are free to explore everywhere we\r\ngo. We've put that information at their fingertips. We hope everyone takes a few\r\nmoments to explore NASA at Home.\" </p>", "<p>This\r\nspecial also spotlights educational and entertaining resources and activities\r\nfor <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home-for-kids-and-families\">families and students</a> in kindergarten on up.\r\nPlus, it provides access to\r\neverything from formal lesson plans to amazing imagery and stories about how\r\nscience and exploration help the world.</p>", "<p>If you want to practice safe science at home, we have opportunities\r\nfor <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home-be-a-scientist\">citizen scientists</a> to\r\ncontribute to real ongoing research, from our solar system's backyard to your\r\nown backyard. This includes searching for brown dwarfs and planets in our outer\r\nsolar system and helping track changes in clouds, water, plants and other life\r\nin support of climate research. </p>", "<p>NASA at Home will feature ongoing opportunities to interact and\r\nhear from agency experts. For example, record-breaking astronaut Christina Koch\r\nreads\r\nchildren's books weekdays at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT) on <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/astro_christina/\">Instagram live</a> as part of educational\r\nand STEM activity for students. </p>", "<p><a href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/live\">NASA Television</a> also is running NASA\r\nat Home-themed programming 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT (7 a.m. to 1 p.m. PDT) weekdays,\r\nas well as broadcasting around-the-clock with recent mission events and news,\r\nconversations with astronauts on the International Space Station, educational\r\nlooks at science, technology and exploration topics, and historical programs\r\nfrom the agency's storied past. </p>", "<p>So,\r\ncheck in regularly with #NASAatHome for the latest and greatest the universe\r\nhas to offer!</p>", "<p>For more information all of NASA's programs,\r\nprojects, and activities, visit:</p>", "<p><b><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov\">https://www.nasa.gov</a></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/nasa/20200331/nasaAtHome-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7631", "title": "NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Gets Its Wheels and Air Brakes", "introduction": "After the rover was shipped from JPL to Kennedy Space Center, the team is getting closer to finalizing the spacecraft for launch later this summer.", "updated_at": "2020-04-03 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>Final assembly and testing of NASA's Perseverance rover continues at Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the July launch window approaches. In some of the last steps required prior to stacking the spacecraft components in the configuration they'll be in atop the Atlas V rocket, the rover's wheels and parachute have been installed.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Perseverance received its six <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/wheels/\">flight wheels</a> on March 30, 2020. While the rover took a test <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24733/first-drive-test-of-nasas-mars-2020-rover/\">drive last December</a>, it was on \"flight spares\" that wouldn't be making the trip to Mars. Designed for the kind of off-roading Perseverance will perform on the Red Planet, <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/wheels/\">the wheels</a> are re-engineered versions of the ones NASA's Curiosity has been using on its traverses of Mount Sharp.</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200403/Rover-Wheel-Comparison-640.jpg\" alt=\"2020 wheel comparison\"> <br>\r\n\r\nIllustrated here, the aluminum wheels of NASA's Curiosity (left) and Perseverance rovers. Slightly larger in diameter and narrower, 20.7 inches (52.6 centimeters) versus 20 inches (50.8 centimeters), Perseverance's wheels have twice as many treads, and are gently curved instead of chevron-patterned. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech <br> <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200403/Rover-Wheel-Comparison-16.jpg\" alt=\"2020 wheel comparison\">+Larger view</a>\r\n</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Machined out of a block of flight-grade aluminum and equipped with titanium spokes, each wheel is slightly larger in diameter and narrower than Curiosity's, with skins that are almost a millimeter thicker. They also feature new treads, or grousers: In place of Curiosity's 24 <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/rover/wheels/\">chevron-pattern treads</a> are 48 gently curved ones. Extensive testing in the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which built the rover and manages operations, has shown these treads better withstand the <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6785\">pressure from sharp rocks</a> and grip just as well or better than Curiosity's when driving on sand.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p><strong>The Parachute</strong></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>The job of adding Perseverance's parachute to the back shell, where the rover will be stowed on the journey to the Red Planet, took several days and was finished on March 26. Tasked with slowing the heaviest payload in the history of Mars exploration from Mach 1.7 to about 200 mph (320 kph) during the rover's landing on Feb., 18, 2021, the 194 pounds (88 kilograms) of nylon, Technora and Kevlar fibers are packed so tightly into a 20-inch-wide (50-centimeter-wide) aluminum cylinder that it is as dense as oak wood. When deployed at about 7 miles (11 kilometers) above the Martian surface, the chute will take about a half-second to fully inflate its 70.5-foot-wide (21.5-meter-wide) canopy. \u00a0</p>", "<p>The Perseverance rover is a robotic scientist weighing 2,260 pounds (1,025 kilograms). It will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the planet's climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. No matter what day Perseverance launches during its July 17-Aug. 5 launch period, it will land on Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.</p>", "<p>Perseverance is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis lunar exploration plans</a>.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>For more information about the mission, go to:</p>", "<p></p>", "<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/\"><strong>https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/</strong></a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>For more about NASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit:</p>", "<p></p>", "<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars\"><strong>https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars</strong></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200403/PIA-23821-3Wheels1Rover-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7625", "title": "NASA Selects Mission to Study Causes of Giant Solar Particle Storms", "introduction": "An array of six spacecraft, each about the size of a toaster oven, will help us understand our nearest star and better protect astronauts traveling beyond Earth.", "updated_at": "2020-03-30 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>NASA\r\nhas selected a new mission to study how the Sun generates and releases giant\r\nspace weather storms - known as solar particle storms - into planetary space.\r\nNot only will such information improve understanding of how our solar system\r\nworks, but it ultimately can help protect astronauts traveling to the Moon and\r\nMars by providing better information on how the Sun's radiation affects the\r\nspace environment they must travel through. </p>", "<p>The\r\nnew mission, called the Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), is\r\nan array of six CubeSats operating as one very large radio telescope. NASA has\r\nawarded $62.6 million to design, build and launch SunRISE by no earlier than\r\nJuly 1, 2023. </p>", "<p>NASA\r\nchose SunRISE in August 2017 as one of two Mission of Opportunity proposals to conduct\r\nan 11-month mission concept study. In February 2019, the agency approved a\r\ncontinued formulation study of the mission for an additional year. SunRISE is\r\nled by Justin Kasper at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and managed by\r\nNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.  </p>", "<p>\"We\r\nare so pleased to add a new mission to our fleet of spacecraft that help us\r\nbetter understand the Sun, as well as how our star influences the space\r\nenvironment between planets,\" said Nicky Fox, director of NASA's\r\nHeliophysics Division. \"The more we know about how the Sun erupts with\r\nspace weather events, the more we can mitigate their effects on spacecraft and\r\nastronauts.\"</p>", "<p>The\r\nmission design relies on six solar-powered CubeSats - each about the size of a\r\ntoaster oven - to simultaneously observe radio images of low-frequency emission\r\nfrom solar activity and share them via NASA's Deep Space Network. The\r\nconstellation of CubeSats will fly within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of each\r\nother, above Earth's atmosphere, which otherwise blocks the radio signals\r\nSunRISE will observe. Together, the six CubeSats will create 3D maps to pinpoint\r\nwhere giant particle bursts originate on the Sun and how they evolve as they\r\nexpand outward into space. This, in turn, will help determine what initiates\r\nand accelerates these giant jets of radiation. The six individual spacecraft\r\nwill also work together to map, for the first time, the pattern of magnetic\r\nfield lines reaching from the Sun out into interplanetary space. </p>", "<p>NASA's\r\nMissions of Opportunity maximize science return by pairing new, relatively\r\ninexpensive missions with launches on spacecraft already approved and preparing\r\nto go into space. SunRISE proposed an approach for access to space as a hosted\r\nrideshare on a commercial satellite provided by Maxar of Westminster, Colorado,\r\nand built with a Payload Orbital Delivery System, or PODS. Once in orbit, the\r\nhost spacecraft will deploy the six SunRISE spacecraft and then continue its\r\nprime mission.</p>", "<p>Missions of Opportunity are\r\npart of the Explorers Program, which is the oldest continuous NASA program\r\ndesigned to provide frequent, low-cost access to space using principal\r\ninvestigator-led space science investigations relevant to the Science Mission\r\nDirectorate's (SMD) astrophysics and heliophysics programs. The program is\r\nmanaged by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for SMD,\r\nwhich conducts a wide variety of research and scientific exploration\r\nprograms for Earth studies, space weather, the solar system and universe.</p>", "<p>For\r\nmore information about the Explorers Program, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov\"><b>https://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>For\r\ninformation about NASA's heliophysics missions and activities, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/sunearth\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/sunearth</b></a><b><u></u></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/sunrise/20200330/particlestormb-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7629", "title": "The Man Who Wanted to Fly on Mars", "introduction": "The Mars Helicopter is riding to the Red Planet this summer with NASA's Perseverance rover. The helicopter's chief engineer, Bob Balaram, shares the saga of how it came into being.", "updated_at": "2020-04-01 12:04:00", "paras": ["<p>Even\r\nbefore this interviewer can finish the question, \"Did anyone ever tell you\r\nthis was a crazy idea?\" Bob Balaram jumps in: \"Everyone. All the time.\"</p>", "<p>This\r\n\"crazy idea\" is the <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/\">Mars Helicopter</a>, currently at Kennedy Space Center waiting to hitch a ride to the\r\nRed Planet on the <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance\">Mars Perseverance rover</a> this summer.  </p>", "<p>Although\r\nBalaram probably didn't know it at the time, the seed for an idea like this\r\nsprouted for him in the 1960s Apollo era, during his childhood in south India.\r\nHis uncle wrote to the U.S. Consulate, asking for information about NASA and\r\nspace exploration. The bulging envelope they sent back, stuffed with glossy\r\nbooklets, entranced young Bob. His interest in space was piqued further by\r\nlistening to the Moon landing on the radio. \"I gobbled it up,\" he\r\nsays. \"Long before the internet, the U.S. had good outreach. You had my\r\neyeballs.\"</p>", "<p>His\r\nactive brain and fertile imagination focused on getting an education, which\r\nwould lead him to a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian\r\nInstitute of Technology, a master's and Ph.D. in computer and systems\r\nengineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a career at NASA's Jet\r\nPropulsion Laboratory in Southern California. That's where he has remained for\r\n35 years as a robotics technologist. </p>", "<p>Balaram's\r\ncareer has encompassed robotic arms, early Mars rovers, technology for a\r\nnotional balloon mission to explore Venus and a stint as lead for the Mars\r\nScience Laboratory entry, descent and landing simulation software. </p>", "<p><b>Cutting\r\nThrough Obstacles, Red Tape and the Martian Atmosphere</b></p>", "<p>As\r\nwith many innovative ideas, it took a village to make the helicopter happen. In\r\nthe 1990s, Balaram attended a professional conference, where Stanford professor\r\nIlan Kroo spoke about a \"mesicopter,\" a miniature airborne vehicle\r\nfor Earth applications that was funded as a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts\r\nproposal.</p>", "<p>This\r\nled Balaram to think about using one on Mars. He suggested a joint proposal\r\nwith Stanford for a NASA Research Announcement submission and recruited AeroVironment,\r\na small company in Simi Valley, California. The proposal got favorable reviews,\r\nand although it was not selected for funding at that time, it did yield a\r\nblade-rotor test under Mars conditions at JPL. Other than that, the idea \"sat\r\non a shelf\" for 15 years. </p>", "<p>Fast\r\nforward to a conference where the University of Pennsylvania presented about\r\nthe use of drones and helicopters. Charles Elachi, then director of JPL,\r\nattended that session. When he returned to JPL, he asked whether something like\r\nthis could be used on Mars. A colleague of Balaram's mentioned his previous\r\nwork in that area of research. Balaram\r\ndusted off that proposal, and Elachi asked him to write a new one for the\r\ncompetitive call for Mars 2020 investigation payloads. This sped up the process\r\nof developing a concept. </p>", "<p>Balaram\r\nand his team had eight weeks to submit a proposal. Working day and night, they\r\nmet the deadline with two weeks to spare. </p>", "<p>Although\r\nthe helicopter idea was not selected as an instrument, it was funded for\r\ntechnology development and risk reduction. Mimi Aung became Mars Helicopter project\r\nmanager, and after the team worked on risk reduction, NASA decided to fund the\r\nhelicopter for flight as a technology demonstration.</p>", "<p><b>Building\r\nand Testing a Beast</b></p>", "<p>So\r\nthen the reality set in: How does one actually build a helicopter to fly on\r\nMars and get it to work? </p>", "<p>No\r\neasy feat. Balaram describes it as a perfectly blank canvas, but with\r\nrestrictions. His physics background helped him envision flying on Mars, a planet\r\nwith an atmosphere that is only 1% as dense as Earth's. He compares it to\r\nflying on Earth at a 100,000-foot (30,500-meter) altitude - about seven\r\ntimes higher than a typical terrestrial helicopter can fly. Another challenge\r\nwas that the copter could carry only a few kilograms, including the weight of\r\nbatteries and a radio for communications. \"You can't just throw mass at\r\nit, because it needed to fly,\" he says.</p>", "<p>It\r\ndawned on Balaram that it was like building a new kind of aircraft that just\r\nhappens to be a spacecraft. And because it is a \"passenger\" on a\r\nflagship mission, he says, \"we have to guarantee 100% that it will be\r\nsafe.\"</p>", "<p>The\r\nend result: a 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) helicopter with two pairs of light counter-rotating\r\nblades - an upper and lower pair, to slice through the Martian atmosphere. Each\r\npair of blades spans 4 feet (1.2 meters) in diameter.</p>", "<p>Once\r\nit was built, Balaram says, the question was, \"How do you test this beast?\r\nThere's no book saying how.\" Because there is no easily accessible place\r\non Earth with a thin atmosphere like the one on Mars, they ran tests in a\r\nvacuum chamber and the 25-foot Space Simulation Chamber at JPL. </p>", "<p>About\r\ntwo-and-a-half months after landing at Jezero Crater, the Mars Helicopter team\r\nwill have a window of about 30 days to perform a technology demonstration in\r\nthe actual environment of the planet, starting with a series of vehicle\r\ncheckouts, followed by attempts of first-ever flights in the very thin Martian atmosphere.</p>", "<p>Despite\r\nbest efforts and the best tests available on Earth, this is a high-risk,\r\nhigh-reward technology demonstration, with Balaram saying quite frankly, \"We\r\ncould fail.\"</p>", "<p>But\r\nif this \"crazy idea\" succeeds on Mars, it will be what Balaram describes\r\nas \"kind of a Wright Brothers moment on another planet\" - the first\r\ntime a powered aircraft will have flown on Mars, or any planet besides Earth,\r\nfor that matter. This potential breakthrough could help pave the way for future\r\ncraft that would expand NASA's portfolio of vehicles to explore other worlds.</p>", "<p>And\r\npartly because there have been so many challenges along the way, it's a\r\ntestament to the dedication, vision, persistence and attitude of Balaram and\r\nhis colleagues that the Mars Helicopter concept was funded, planned, developed\r\nand built and is heading to the Red Planet this summer.</p>", "<p>\"Bob is\r\nthe inventor of our Mars Helicopter. He innovated the design and followed up on\r\nthat vision to its fruition as chief engineer through all phases of design, development\r\nand test,\" says project manager Aung. \"Whenever we encountered a\r\ntechnical roadblock - and we encountered many roadblocks - we always turned to\r\nBob, who always carries an inexhaustible set of potential solutions to be\r\nconsidered. Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever seen Bob feeling\r\nstuck at any point!\" </p>", "<p><b>The Home Stretch\r\nToward Mars</b></p>", "<p>The\r\nmain purpose of the Mars 2020 mission is to deliver the Perseverance rover,\r\nwhich will not only continue to explore the past habitability of the planet,\r\nbut will actually search for signs of ancient microbial life. It will also\r\ncache rock and soil samples for pickup by a potential future mission and help\r\npave the way for future human exploration of Mars. Even if the helicopter\r\nencounters difficulties, the science-gathering mission of the Perseverance\r\nrover won't be affected. </p>", "<p>Balaram\r\npoints out that in addition to the usual \"<a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1090\">seven minutes of terror</a>\" experienced by the\r\nteam on Earth during a Mars landing, once the helicopter is on Mars and\r\nattempting to fly, \"This is the seven seconds of terror every time we take\r\noff or land.\"</p>", "<p>Does\r\nBalaram worry about all this, even a little? \"There's been a crisis every\r\nsingle week of the last six years,\" he says. \"I'm used to it.\"</p>", "<p>Balaram\r\nsheds any stress that may crop up through backpacking, hiking and massage. There's\r\nalso his very supportive wife, Sandy, who bears a title within the team and her\r\nown acronym: CMO, or Chief Morale Officer. She has regularly baked cakes, pies\r\nand other goodies for Balaram to share with his colleagues for sustenance\r\nduring the long process.</p>", "<p>And\r\nhe has high praise for his teammates on the Mars Helicopter project, saying the\r\npeople attracted to it are agile and fast-moving. \"It's a great team,\r\ndetermined to dare mighty things - that's the fun part,\" Balaram says. His\r\ntake on daring mighty things: \"Good ideas don't die - they just take a\r\nwhile.\"</p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>DC Agle<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-393-9011<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:agle@jpl.nasa.gov\">agle@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Written by Jane Platt</p>", "<p>2020-062</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars/20200401/bob-heli-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7623", "title": "Revisiting Decades-Old Voyager 2 Data, Scientists Find One More Secret", "introduction": "The ice giant Uranus appears to be losing a bit of its atmosphere to space, perhaps siphoned away by the planet's magnetic field.", "updated_at": "2020-03-25 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>Eight and a half\r\nyears into its grand tour of the solar system, <a href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/\">NASA's\r\nVoyager 2</a> spacecraft was\r\nready for another encounter. It was Jan. 24, 1986, and soon it would meet the mysterious\r\nseventh planet, icy-cold Uranus.</p>", "<p>Over the next\r\nfew hours, Voyager 2 flew within 50,600 miles (81,433 kilometers) of Uranus' cloud\r\ntops, collecting data that revealed <a href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/uranus/\">two new rings, 11 new moons</a> and temperatures below minus 353 degrees\r\nFahrenheit (minus 214 degrees Celsius). The dataset is still the only up-close measurements\r\nwe have ever made of the planet.</p>", "<p>Three decades\r\nlater, scientists reinspecting that data found one more secret.</p>", "<p>Unbeknownst to\r\nthe entire space physics community, 34 years ago Voyager 2 flew through a plasmoid,\r\na giant magnetic bubble that may have been whisking Uranus' atmosphere out to space.\r\nThe finding, reported in <a href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019GL083909\">Geophysical Research Letters</a>, raises new questions about the planet's\r\none-of-a-kind magnetic environment.</p>", "<p><b>A Wobbly Magnetic Oddball</b></p>", "<p>Planetary atmospheres\r\nall over the solar system are leaking into space. Hydrogen springs from Venus to\r\njoin the solar wind, the continuous stream of particles escaping the Sun. Jupiter\r\nand Saturn eject globs of their electrically-charged air. <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSt5peITUBo&amp;t=2s\">Even Earth's atmosphere leaks</a>. (Don't worry, it will stick around for\r\nanother billion years or so.)</p>", "<p>The effects are\r\ntiny on human timescales, but given long enough, atmospheric escape can fundamentally\r\nalter a planet's fate. For a case in point, look at Mars.</p>", "<p>\"Mars used\r\nto be a wet planet with a thick atmosphere,\" said Gina DiBraccio, space physicist\r\nat NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and project scientist for the Mars Atmosphere\r\nand Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN mission. \"It evolved over time\" - 4 billion\r\nyears of leakage to space - \"to become the dry planet we see today.\"</p>", "<p>Atmospheric escape\r\nis driven by a planet's magnetic field, which can both help and hinder the process.\r\nScientists believe magnetic fields can protect a planet, fending off the atmosphere-stripping\r\nblasts of the solar wind. But they can also create opportunities for escape, like\r\nthe giant globs cut loose from Saturn and Jupiter when magnetic field lines become\r\ntangled. Either way, to understand how atmospheres change, scientists pay close\r\nattention to magnetism. </p>", "<p>That's one more\r\nreason Uranus is such a mystery. Voyager 2's 1986 flyby revealed just how magnetically\r\nweird the planet is.</p>", "<p>\"The structure,\r\nthe way that it moves ... ,\" DiBraccio said, \"Uranus is really on its own.\"</p>", "<p>Unlike any other\r\nplanet in our solar system, Uranus spins almost perfectly on its side - like a pig\r\non a spit roast - completing a barrel roll once every 17 hours. Its magnetic field\r\naxis points 60 degrees away from that spin axis, so as the planet spins, its magnetosphere\r\n- the space carved out by its magnetic field - wobbles like a poorly thrown football.\r\nScientists still don't know how to model it.</p>", "<p>This oddity drew\r\nDiBraccio and her coauthor Dan Gershman, a fellow Goddard space physicist, to the\r\nproject. Both were part of a team working out plans for a new mission to the \"ice\r\ngiants\" Uranus and Neptune, and they were looking for mysteries to solve. </p>", "<p>Uranus' strange\r\nmagnetic field, last measured more than 30 years ago, seemed like a good place to\r\nstart.</p>", "<p>So they downloaded\r\nVoyager 2's magnetometer readings, which monitored the strength and direction of\r\nthe magnetic fields near Uranus as the spacecraft flew by. With no idea what they'd\r\nfind, they zoomed in closer than previous studies, plotting a new datapoint every\r\n1.92 seconds. Smooth lines gave way to jagged spikes and dips. And that's when they\r\nsaw it: a tiny zigzag with a big story.</p>", "<p>\"Do you think\r\nthat could be ... a plasmoid?\" Gershman asked DiBraccio, catching sight of the\r\nsquiggle.</p>", "<p>Little known at\r\nthe time of Voyager 2's flyby, plasmoids have since become recognized as an important\r\nway planets lose mass. These giant bubbles of plasma, or electrified gas, pinch\r\noff from the end of a planet's magnetotail - the part of its magnetic field blown\r\nback by the Sun like a windsock. With enough time, escaping plasmoids can drain\r\nthe ions from a planet's atmosphere, fundamentally changing its composition. </p>", "<p>They had been\r\nobserved at Earth and other planets, but no one had detected plasmoids at Uranus\r\n- yet.</p>", "<p>DiBraccio ran\r\nthe data through her processing pipeline, and the results came back clean.\r\n\"I think it definitely is,\" she said.</p>", "<p><b>The Bubble Escapes</b></p>", "<p>The plasmoid DiBraccio\r\nand Gershman found occupied a mere 60 seconds of Voyager 2's 45-hour-long flight\r\nby Uranus. It appeared as a quick up-down blip in the magnetometer data. \"But\r\nif you plotted it in 3D, it would look like a cylinder,\" Gershman said.</p>", "<p>Comparing their\r\nresults to plasmoids observed at Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury, they estimated a cylindrical\r\nshape at least 127,000 miles (204,000 kilometers) long, and up to roughly 250,000\r\nmiles (400,000 kilometers) across. Like all planetary plasmoids, it was full of\r\ncharged particles - mostly ionized hydrogen, the authors believe.?</p>", "<p>Readings from\r\ninside the plasmoid - as Voyager 2 flew through it - hinted at its origins. Whereas\r\nsome plasmoids have a twisted internal magnetic field, DiBraccio and Gershman observed\r\nsmooth, closed magnetic loops. Such loop-like plasmoids are typically formed as\r\na spinning planet flings bits of its atmosphere to space. \"Centrifugal forces\r\ntake over, and the plasmoid pinches off,\" Gershman said. According to their\r\nestimates, plasmoids like that one could account for between 15% and 55% of atmospheric\r\nmass loss at Uranus, a greater proportion than either Jupiter or Saturn. It may\r\nwell be the dominant way Uranus sheds its atmosphere to space.</p>", "<p>How has plasmoid\r\nescape changed Uranus over time? With only one set of observations, it's hard to\r\nsay.</p>", "<p>\"Imagine\r\nif one spacecraft just flew through this room and tried to characterize the entire\r\nEarth,\" DiBraccio said. \"Obviously it's not going to show you anything\r\nabout what the Sahara or Antarctica is like.\"</p>", "<p>But the findings\r\nhelp focus new questions about the planet. The remaining mystery is part of the\r\ndraw. \"It's why I love planetary science,\" DiBraccio said. \"You're\r\nalways going somewhere you don't really know.\"</p>", "<p>The twin Voyager\r\nspacecraft were built by and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.\r\nJPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. The Voyager missions are a part of the\r\nNASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of\r\nthe Science Mission Directorate in Washington. </p>", "<p>For more information\r\nabout the Voyager spacecraft, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/voyager\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/voyager</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><a href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov\"><b>https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/voyager/20160121/PIA18182-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7622", "title": "Huge East Antarctic Glacier Especially Susceptible to Climate Impacts", "introduction": "The shape of the ground beneath Denman Glacier, which is melting from the bottom up, makes it particularly vulnerable to the intrusion of seawater.", "updated_at": "2020-03-25 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>Denman Glacier\r\nin East Antarctica retreated 3.4 miles (5.4 kilometers) from 1996 to 2018, according\r\nto a new study by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the\r\nUniversity of California, Irvine. Their analysis of Denman - a single glacier\r\nthat holds as much ice as half of West Antarctica - also shows that the shape\r\nof the ground beneath the ice sheet makes it especially susceptible to\r\nclimate-driven retreat. </p>", "<p>Until recently, researchers believed East Antarctica\r\nwas more stable than West Antarctica because it wasn't losing as much ice\r\ncompared to the glacial melt observed in the western part of the continent. \"East\r\nAntarctica has long been thought to be less threatened, but as glaciers such as\r\nDenman have come under closer scrutiny by the cryosphere science community, we\r\nare now beginning to see evidence of potential marine ice sheet instability in\r\nthis region,\" said Eric Rignot, project senior scientist at JPL and\r\nprofessor of Earth system science at UCI. </p>", "<p>\"The ice\r\nin West Antarctica has been melting faster in recent years, but the sheer size\r\nof Denman Glacier means that its potential impact on long-term sea level rise\r\nis just as significant,\" Rignot added. If all of Denman melted, it would\r\nresult in about 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) of sea level rise worldwide.</p>", "<p>Using radar data\r\nfrom four satellites, part of the Italian COSMO-SkyMed mission that launched its\r\nfirst satellite in 2007, the researchers were able to discern the precise\r\nlocation where the glacier meets the sea and the ice starts to float on the\r\nocean, or its grounding zone. The scientists were also able to reveal the contours\r\nof the ground beneath portions of the glacier using data on ice thickness and\r\nits speed over land. </p>", "<p>Denman's eastern flank is protected from exposure to\r\nwarm ocean water by a roughly 6-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) ridge under the\r\nice sheet. But its western flank, which extends about 3 miles (4 kilometers) past\r\nits eastern part, sits over a deep, steep trough with a bottom that's smooth\r\nand slopes inland. This configuration could funnel warm seawater underneath the\r\nice, making for an unstable ice sheet. The warm water is increasingly being\r\npushed against the Antarctic continent by winds called the westerlies, which have\r\nstrengthened since the 1980s.</p>", "<p>\"Because\r\nof the shape of the ground beneath Denman's western side, there is potential\r\nfor the intrusion of warm water, which would cause rapid and irreversible\r\nretreat, and contribute to global sea level rise in the future,\" said lead\r\nauthor Virginia Brancato, a scientist at JPL. </p>", "<p>It will also be important, her colleague Rignot\r\nnoted, to monitor the part of Denman Glacier that floats on the ocean, which\r\nextends for 9,300 square miles (24,000 square kilometers) and includes the\r\nShackleton Ice Shelf and Denman Ice Tongue. </p>", "<p>Currently, that extension is melting from the bottom\r\nup at a rate of about 10 feet (3 meters) annually. That's an increase over its\r\nannual melt average of 9 feet (2.7 meters). It's also greater than the average melt\r\nrate for East Antarctic ice shelves between 2003 and 2008, which was roughly 2\r\nfeet (0.7 meters) per year. </p>", "<p>The team\r\npublished their assessment on March 23 in the American Geophysical Union\r\njournal <a href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19448007\">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.</p>", "<p>This project was funded by NASA's Cryosphere Program\r\nand received support from the Italian Space Agency and the German Space Agency.\r\nData and bed topography maps are <a href=\"https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.15146/zf0j-5m50\">publicly available</a>.</p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Jane Lee / Ian J. O'Neill<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-354-0307 / 818-354-2649<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov\">jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov</a> / <a href=\"mailto:ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov\">ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Brian Bell<br>\r\nUniversity of California, Irvine<br>\r\n949-824-8249<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:bpbell@uci.edu\">bpbell@uci.edu</a></p>", "<p>2020-055</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/20200325/Denman20200325-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7626", "title": "NASA, University of Nebraska Release New Global Groundwater Maps and U.S. Drought Forecasts", "introduction": "Satellite data on the movement of water on Earth helps to improve the accuracy of moisture maps and forecasts.", "updated_at": "2020-03-31 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>NASA\r\nresearchers have developed new satellite-based, weekly global maps of soil\r\nmoisture and groundwater wetness conditions and one- to three-month U.S.\r\nforecasts of each product. While maps of current dry/wet conditions for the\r\nUnited States have been available since 2012, this is the first time they have been available\r\nglobally.</p>", "<p>\"The\r\nglobal products are important because there are so few worldwide drought maps\r\nout there,\" said hydrologist and project lead Matt Rodell of NASA's\r\nGoddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \"Droughts are usually\r\nwell known when they happen in developed nations. But when there's a drought in\r\ncentral Africa, for example, it may not be noticed until it causes a humanitarian\r\ncrisis. So it's valuable to have a product like this where people can\r\nsay, 'Wow, it's really dry there and no one's reporting it.'\"</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nUsing measurements from two satellite missions assimilated into a computer model, researchers have created global maps of terrestrial water around the planet. In addition, they can forecast water availability in the United States up to three months out. \r\n<br> \r\nMusic credit: \"Lines of Enquiry\" from Universal Production Music \r\n<br>\r\nCredit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio\r\n</p>", "<p>These maps are\r\ndistributed online by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University\r\nof Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) to support U.S. and global drought monitoring.</p>", "<p>\"Being able to see a weekly snapshot of\r\nboth soil moisture and groundwater is important to get a complete picture of\r\ndrought,\" said professor\r\nBrian Wardlow, director for the Center for Advanced Land Management Information\r\nTechnologies at UNL, who works closely with Rodell on developing remote sensing\r\ntools for operational drought monitoring.</p>", "<p>Monitoring\r\nthe wetness of the soil is essential for managing agricultural crops and\r\npredicting their yields, because soil moisture is the water available to plant\r\nroots. Groundwater is often the source of water for crop irrigation. It also\r\nsustains streams during dry periods and is a useful indicator of extended\r\ndrought. But ground-based observations are too sparse to capture the full\r\npicture of wetness and dryness across the landscape like the combination of\r\nsatellites and models can. </p>", "<p><b>A Global Eye\r\non Water</b></p>", "<p>Both\r\nthe global maps and the U.S. forecasts use data from NASA and the German\r\nResearch Center for Geosciences's <a href=\"https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/\">Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment\r\nFollow On (GRACE-FO)</a>\r\nsatellites, a pair of spacecraft that detect the movement of water on Earth\r\nbased on variations of Earth's gravity field. GRACE-FO succeeds the highly\r\nsuccessful GRACE satellites, which ended their mission in 2017 after 15 years\r\nof operation. With the global\r\nexpansion of the product, and the addition of U.S. forecasts, the GRACE-FO data\r\nare filling in key gaps for understanding the full picture of wet and dry\r\nconditions that can lead to drought. </p>", "<p>The\r\nsatellite-based observations of changes in water distribution are integrated\r\nwith other data within a computer model that simulates the water and energy\r\ncycles. The model then produces, among other outputs, time-varying maps of the\r\ndistribution of water at three depths: surface soil moisture, root zone soil\r\nmoisture (roughly the top three feet of soil) and shallow groundwater. The maps\r\nhave a resolution of 1/8<sup>th</sup> degree of latitude, or about 8.5 miles\r\n(13.7 kilometers), providing continuous data on moisture and groundwater\r\nconditions across the landscape.</p>", "<p>The\r\nGRACE and GRACE-FO satellite-based maps are among the essential datasets used\r\nby the authors of the U.S. Drought Monitor, the premier weekly map of drought conditions\r\nfor the United States that is used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and\r\nthe Federal Emergency Management Agency, among others, to evaluate which areas\r\nmay need financial assistance due to losses from drought. </p>", "<p>\"GRACE\r\n[provided and GRACE-FO now provides] a national scope of groundwater,\"\r\nsaid climatologist and Drought Monitor author Brian Fuchs, at the drought\r\ncenter. He and the other authors use multiple datasets to see where the\r\nevidence shows conditions have gotten drier or wetter. For groundwater, that\r\nused to mean going to individual states' groundwater well data to update the\r\nweekly map. \"It's saved a lot of time having that groundwater layer along\r\nwith the soil moisture layers all in one spot,\" Fuchs said. \"The\r\nhigh-resolution data that we're able to bring in allows us to draw those\r\ncontours of dryness or wetness right to the data itself.\"</p>", "<p>One\r\nof the goals of the new global maps is to make the same consistent product\r\navailable in all parts of the world - especially in countries that do not have\r\nany groundwater-monitoring infrastructure.</p>", "<p>\"Drought\r\nis really a key [topic] ... with a lot of the projections of climate and climate\r\nchange,\" Wardlow said. \"The emphasis is on getting more relevant,\r\nmore accurate and more timely drought information, whether it be soil moisture,\r\ncrop health, groundwater, streamflow-[the GRACE missions are] central to this,\"\r\nhe said. \"These types of tools are absolutely critical to helping us\r\naddress and offset some of the impacts anticipated, whether it be from\r\npopulation growth, climate change or just increased water consumption in\r\ngeneral.\"</p>", "<p>Both\r\nthe Center for Advanced Land Management and the National Drought Mitigation\r\nCenter are based in UNL's School of Natural Resources, and they are working\r\nwith international partners, including the U.S. Agency for International\r\nDevelopment and the World Bank, to develop and support drought monitoring using\r\nthe GRACE-FO global maps and other tools in the Middle East, North Africa,\r\nSouth Africa, South East Asia and India.</p>", "<p><b>U.S. Forecasts Maps for the Lower 48</b></p>", "<p>Droughts\r\ncan be complex, both in timing and extent. At the surface, soil moisture\r\nchanges rapidly with weather conditions. The moisture in the root zone changes\r\na little slower but is still very responsive to weather. Lagging behind both is\r\ngroundwater, since it is insulated from changes in the weather. But for\r\nlonger-term outlooks on drought severity - or, conversely, flood risk in\r\nlow-lying areas - groundwater is the metric to watch, said Rodell.</p>", "<p>\"The\r\ngroundwater maps are like a slowed-down, smoothed version of what you see at\r\nthe surface,\" Rodell said. \"They represent the accumulation of months\r\nor years of weather events.\" That smoothing provides a more complete\r\npicture of the overall drying or wetting trend going on in an area. Having an\r\naccurate accounting of groundwater levels is essential for accurately\r\nforecasting near-future conditions. </p>", "<p>The\r\nnew forecast product that projects dry and wet conditions 30, 60 and 90 days\r\nout for the lower 48 states uses GRACE-FO data to help set the current conditions.\r\nThen the model runs forward in time using the Goddard Earth Observing System,\r\nVersion 5 seasonal weather forecast model as input. The researchers found that\r\nincluding the GRACE-FO data made the resulting soil moisture and groundwater\r\nforecasts more accurate.</p>", "<p>Since\r\nthe product has just been rolled out, the user community is only just beginning\r\nto work with the forecasts, but Wardlow sees a huge potential.</p>", "<p>\"I\r\nthink you'll see the GRACE-FO monitoring products used in combination with the\r\nforecasts,\" Wardlow said. \"For example, the current U.S. product may\r\nshow moderate drought conditions, and if you look at the forecast and the\r\nforecast shows next month that there's a continued drying trend, then that may\r\nchange the decision versus if it was a wet trend.\"</p>", "<p>The\r\nU.S. forecast and global maps are freely available to users through the drought\r\ncenter's data portal. </p>", "<p>GRACE-FO is a\r\npartnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences\r\n(GeoForschungsZentrum [GFZ]). Both spacecraft are being operated\r\nfrom the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, under a\r\nGFZ contract with the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f\u00fcr Luft- und\r\nRaumfahrt). NASA's Jet\r\nPropulsion Laboratory manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission\r\nDirectorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Caltech in Pasadena,\r\nCalifornia, manages JPL for NASA. The GRACE-FO mission was launched in early\r\n2018.</p>", "<p>GRACE was\r\nimplemented as a joint mission of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. JPL\r\nmanaged the mission's implementation and operations. The GRACE mission was\r\ndecommissioned in late 2017. </p>", "<p>Development\r\nof the drought/wetness products was funded by NASA's Applied Sciences-Water\r\nResources, Terrestrial Hydrology, and GRACE-FO Science Team programs.</p>", "<p>To\r\ndownload the maps, visit: </p>", "<p><a href=\"https://nasagrace.unl.edu/\"><b>https://nasagrace.unl.edu/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>To\r\nlearn more about GRACE and GRACE-FO, visit: </p>", "<p><a href=\"https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/\"><b>https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/gracefo/20200331/3-31-2020-GRACE-FO-maps-MAIN.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7616", "title": "Greenland, Antarctica Melting Six Times Faster Than in the 1990s", "introduction": "The two regions have lost 6.4 trillion tons of ice in three decades; unabated, this rate of melting could cause flooding that affects hundreds of millions of people by 2100.", "updated_at": "2020-03-16 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p class=\"xmsonormal\">Observations from 11 satellite missions monitoring the\r\nGreenland and Antarctic ice sheets have revealed that the regions are losing\r\nice six times faster than they were in the 1990s. If the current melting trend continues, the regions\r\nwill be on track to match the\r\n\"worst-case\" scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate\r\nChange (IPCC) of an extra 6.7 inches (17 centimeters) of sea level rise by\r\n2100.</p>", "<p class=\"xmsonormal\">The findings, published online March 12 in the journal\r\nNature from an international team of 89 polar scientists from 50 organizations,\r\nare the most comprehensive assessment to date of the changing ice sheets. The Ice\r\nSheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise team combined 26 surveys to\r\ncalculate changes in the mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets between\r\n1992 and 2018.</p>", "<p class=\"xmsonormal\">The assessment was supported by NASA and the European\r\nSpace Agency. The surveys used measurements\r\nfrom satellites\r\nincluding NASA's <a href=\"https://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/\">Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite</a> and the joint NASA-German Aerospace Center <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/gravity-recovery-and-climate-experiment-grace/\">Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment</a>. Andrew Shepherd at the\r\nUniversity of Leeds in England and Erik Ivins at NASA's Jet Propulsion\r\nLaboratory in Southern California led the study.</p>", "<p class=\"xmsonormal\">The team calculated that the two ice sheets together\r\nlost 81 billion tons per year in the 1990s, compared with 475 billion tons of\r\nice per year in the 2010s - a sixfold increase. All total, Greenland and\r\nAntarctica have lost 6.4 trillion tons of ice since the 1990s.</p>", "<p class=\"xmsonormal\">The resulting meltwater boosted global sea levels by\r\n0.7 inches (17.8 millimeters). Together,\r\nthe melting polar ice sheets are responsible for a third of all sea level rise.\r\nOf this total sea level rise, 60% resulted from Greenland's ice loss and\r\n40% resulted from Antarctica's. </p>", "<p class=\"xmsonormal\">\"Satellite observations of polar ice are\r\nessential for monitoring and predicting how climate change could affect ice\r\nlosses and sea level rise,\" said Ivins. \"While computer simulations\r\nallow us to make projections from climate change scenarios, the satellite\r\nmeasurements provide prima facie, rather irrefutable, evidence.\"</p>", "<p>The IPCC\r\nin its Fifth Assessment Report\r\nissued in 2014 predicted global sea levels would rise 28 inches (71\r\ncentimeters) by 2100. The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison\r\nExercise team's studies show\r\nthat ice loss from Antarctica and Greenland tracks with the IPCC's worst-case\r\nscenario.</p>", "<p>Combined losses from both ice sheets peaked at 552\r\nbillion tons per year in 2010 and averaged 475 billion tons per year for the\r\nremainder of the decade. The peak loss coincided with several years of intense\r\nsurface melting in Greenland, and last summer's Arctic heat wave means that\r\n2019 will likely set a new record for polar ice sheet loss, but further\r\nanalysis is needed. IPCC projections indicate the resulting sea level rise\r\ncould put 400 million people at risk of annual\r\ncoastal flooding by the end of the century. </p>", "<p class=\"xmsonormal0\">\"Every\r\ncentimeter of sea level rise leads to coastal flooding and coastal erosion,\r\ndisrupting people's lives around the planet,\" said Shepherd. </p>", "<p>As to what is leading to the\r\nice loss, Antarctica's outlet glaciers are being melted by the ocean, which\r\ncauses them to speed up. Whereas this accounts for the majority of Antarctica's\r\nice loss, it accounts for half of Greenland's ice loss; the rest is caused by\r\nrising air temperatures melting the surface of its ice sheet.</p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation about the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"http://imbie.org/\"><b>http://imbie.org/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Ian J. O'Neill<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-354-2649<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov\">ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Jane Lee<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-354-0307<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov\">jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>2020-050</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/20200316/greenland20200316-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7618", "title": "GRACE, GRACE-FO Satellite Data Track Ice Loss at the Poles", "introduction": "Greenland and Antarctica are melting - but how quickly and which areas are most affected? Nearly 20 years of satellite data provide key insights into these questions.", "updated_at": "2020-03-18 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>During\r\nthe exceptionally warm Arctic summer of 2019, Greenland lost 600 billion tons\r\nof ice - enough to raise global sea levels by nearly a tenth of an inch (2.2\r\nmillimeters) in just two months, a new study shows. </p>", "<p>Led by\r\nscientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of\r\nCalifornia, Irvine, the study also concludes that Antarctica continues to lose\r\nmass, particularly in the Amundsen Sea Embayment and the Antarctic Peninsula on\r\nthe western part of the continent; however, those losses have been partially\r\noffset by gains from increased snowfall in the northeast. </p>", "<p>\"We knew this past summer had been\r\nparticularly warm in Greenland, melting every corner of the ice sheet,\"\r\nsaid lead author Isabella Velicogna, senior project scientist at JPL and a professor\r\nat UCI. \"But the numbers really are enormous.\" </p>", "<p>For context, last summer's losses are more than\r\ndouble Greenland's 2002-2019 yearly average. </p>", "<p>\"In Antarctica, the mass loss in the west\r\nproceeds unabated, which will lead to an even further increase in sea level\r\nrise,\" Velicogna said. \"But we also observe a mass gain in the\r\nAtlantic sector of East Antarctica caused by an uptick in snowfall, which helps\r\nmitigate the enormous increase in mass loss that we have seen in the last two\r\ndecades on other parts of the continent.\"</p>", "<p>She and\r\nher colleagues came to these conclusions in the process of establishing data\r\ncontinuity between the recently decommissioned Gravity Recovery and Climate\r\nExperiment (GRACE) satellite mission and its successor, GRACE Follow-On.</p>", "<p>As mission partnerships between NASA and the\r\nGerman Aerospace Center, and NASA and the German Research Centre for\r\nGeosciences, respectively, the GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites were designed to\r\nmeasure changes to Earth's gravitational pull that result from changes in mass,\r\nincluding water. As water moves around the planet - flowing ocean currents,\r\nmelting ice, falling rain and so on - it changes the gravitational pull ever so\r\nslightly. Scientists use the precise measurements of these variations to\r\nmonitor Earth's water reserves, including polar ice, global sea levels and\r\ngroundwater availability. </p>", "<p>The first GRACE mission was launched in 2002 and\r\ndecommissioned in October 2017. GRACE-FO, based on similar technology and\r\ndesigned to continue the data record of its predecessor, launched in May 2018. Because\r\nof this brief gap, the study team used independent data to test and confirm\r\nthat the GRACE and GRACE-FO data over Greenland and Antarctica were consistent.\r\nVelicogna was pleased with the results. </p>", "<p>\"It is great to see how well the data line\r\nup in Greenland and Antarctica, even at the regional level,\" she said.\r\n\"It is a tribute to the great effort by the project, engineering and\r\nscience teams to make the mission successful.\"</p>", "<p>The study, titled \"Continuity of Ice Sheet\r\nMass Loss in Greenland and Antarctica From the GRACE and GRACE Follow-On Missions,\"\r\nwas published March 18 in Geophysical Research Letters. In addition to\r\nscientists from JPL and UCI, the GRACE and GRACE-FO data continuity project\r\ninvolved researchers from University of Grenoble in France, University of\r\nUtrecht in the Netherlands, and the Polar Ice Center at the University of\r\nWashington in Seattle. </p>", "<p>JPL managed the GRACE mission and\r\nmanages the GRACE-FO mission for NASA's Earth Science Division in the Science\r\nMission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Caltech in Pasadena,\r\nCalifornia, manages JPL for NASA.</p>", "<p>More information on GRACE and\r\nGRACE-FO can be found here:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Grace/index.html\">https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Grace/index.html</a><u></u></p>", "<p><a href=\"https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/overview/\">https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/overview/</a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Jane J. Lee<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-354-0307<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov\">jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>Brian Bell<br>\r\nUniversity of California, Irvine<br>\r\n949-824-8249<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:bpbell@uci.edu\">bpbell@uci.edu</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p><em>Written by Brian Bell, UCI, and Esprit Smith, NASA's Earth Science News Team</em></p>", "<p>2020-052</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/gracefo/20200318/gracefo20200318-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7619", "title": "New Spinoff Publication Shares How NASA Innovations Benefit Life on Earth", "introduction": "From lasers to rovers, the technology JPL develops for space often has unanticipated uses much closer to home.", "updated_at": "2020-03-18 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>As NASA\r\npushes the frontiers of science and human exploration, the agency also advances\r\ntechnology to modernize life on Earth, including drones, self-driving cars and\r\nother innovations. </p>", "<p>NASA's\r\ndiverse missions spur the creation and improvement of thousands of new products\r\nthat make life better for people around the world. Dozens of the latest examples\r\nare featured in the newest edition of NASA's <a href=\"https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2020/index.html\">Spinoff publication</a>, including several from\r\nNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and many illustrating\r\nhow NASA is working to shape the coming revolution of autonomous vehicles on\r\nthe roads and in the air. </p>", "<p>\"NASA\r\nengineers, scientists and technologists innovate the tools we need for the <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis</a> missions to the Moon and exploration beyond, but\r\nour mission also is here on Earth,\" said Jim Reuter, associate\r\nadministrator of the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). \"Whether\r\nit's a new application for a technology created for space or our extensive work\r\nto modernize and innovate aeronautics, our work has had immense benefits for\r\nall kinds of transportation technology on Earth - not to mention in the realms\r\nof medicine, the environment and public safety.\"</p>", "<p>In this\r\nissue of Spinoff, readers will learn how: </p>", "<p>\"Technology\r\nis a means to an end. But sometimes there are more ends than anticipated, and\r\nthe technology created for one purpose here at NASA finds new life in\r\napplications for U.S. industry and daily life,\" said Daniel Lockney,\r\nexecutive of NASA's Technology Transfer program. \"As a result, NASA\r\ntechnology doesn't just improve quality of life on the ground - it also creates\r\njobs, saves money and even saves lives.\" </p>", "<p>The publication\r\nalso includes a \"Spinoffs of Tomorrow\" section, which highlights 20\r\nNASA technologies available for license, including a nanosensor array that can\r\ndiagnose illness by scent, a drought assessment and prediction system, and a computer\r\nmonitoring system that alerts when hackers try to infiltrate. </p>", "<p>Spinoff\r\nhighlights the many successes of the agency's Technology Transfer program\r\nwithin STMD, which is charged with finding the widest possible applications for\r\nNASA technology through partnerships and licensing agreements with industry,\r\nensuring that NASA's investments in its missions and research find additional\r\napplications that benefit the nation and the world.</p>", "<p>Print\r\nand digital versions of the latest issue of Spinoff are available at:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://spinoff.nasa.gov/\"><strong>https://spinoff.nasa.gov</strong></a></p>", "<p>An\r\niPad version, including shortened versions of the stories, multimedia and\r\ninteractive features, is also available for download in the iTunes store.</p>", "<p>For\r\nmore information about NASA's Technology Transfer program, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://technology.nasa.gov/\"><strong>https://technology.nasa.gov</strong></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20190606/PIA23151-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7617", "title": "NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a New Selfie Before Record Climb", "introduction": "Along with capturing an image before its steepest ascent ever, the robotic explorer filmed its \"selfie stick,\" or robotic arm, in action.", "updated_at": "2020-03-20 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recently set a record for the\r\nsteepest terrain it's ever climbed, cresting the \"<a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8624/sols-2696-2698-made-it/\">Greenheugh\r\nPediment</a>,\" a broad sheet of rock that sits atop a hill. And before\r\ndoing that, the rover took a selfie, capturing the scene just below Greenheugh.</p>", "<p>In front of the rover is a hole it drilled while sampling\r\na bedrock target called \"Hutton.\" The entire selfie is a 360-degree panorama\r\nstitched together from 86 images relayed to Earth. The selfie captures the rover\r\nabout 11 feet (3.4 meters) below the point where it climbed onto the crumbling pediment.\r\n</p>", "<p>Curiosity finally reached the top of the slope March 6 (the\r\n2,696th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). It took three drives to scale the\r\nhill, the second of which <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8620/sol-2693-have-we-broken-a-record-not-so-fast-says-opportunity/\">tilted\r\nthe rover 31 degrees</a> - the most the rover has\r\never tilted on Mars and just shy of the now-inactive Opportunity rover's\r\n<a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/news/1901/rover-takes-on-steepest-slope-ever-tried-on-mars/\">32-degree\r\ntilt record</a>, set in 2016. Curiosity took the selfie on Feb. 26, 2020 (Sol\r\n2687). </p>", "<p>Since 2014, Curiosity has been rolling up Mount Sharp, a\r\n3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain at the center of Gale Crater. Rover\r\noperators at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California carefully map\r\nout each drive to make sure Curiosity will be safe. The rover is never in\r\ndanger of tilting so much that it would flip over - <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/rover/wheels/\">Curiosity's\r\nrocker-bogie wheel system enables it to tilt up to 45 degrees safely</a> - but the\r\nsteep drives do cause the wheels to spin in place. </p>", "<p><b>How Are Selfies Taken?</b></p>", "<p>Before the climb, Curiosity used the black-and-white\r\nNavigation Cameras located on its mast to, for the first time, record a short\r\nmovie of its \"selfie stick,\" otherwise known as its robotic arm.</p>", "<p>Curiosity's mission is to study whether the Martian\r\nenvironment could have supported microbial life billions of years ago. One tool\r\nfor doing that is the <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/instruments/mahli/\">Mars Hand Lens\r\nCamera</a>, or MAHLI, located in the turret at the end of the robotic arm. This\r\ncamera provides a close-up view of <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw-images/?order=sol+desc%2Cinstrument_sort+asc%2Csample_type_sort+asc%2C+date_taken+desc&amp;per_page=50&amp;page=0&amp;mission=msl&amp;af=MAHLI%2C%2C\">sand\r\ngrains and rock textures</a>, similarly to how a geologist uses a handheld\r\nmagnifying glass for a closer look in the field on Earth.</p>", "<p>By rotating the turret to face the rover, the team can use\r\nMAHLI to show Curiosity. Because each MAHLI image covers only a small area, it requires\r\nmany images and arm positions to fully capture the rover and its surroundings.</p>", "<p>\"We\r\nget asked so often how Curiosity takes a selfie,\" said Doug Ellison, a\r\nCuriosity camera operator at JPL. \"We thought the best way to explain it\r\nwould be to let the rover show everyone from its own point of view just how\r\nit's done.\"</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nThis video shows how the robotic arm on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover moves as it takes a selfie.\r\nCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech\r\n</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nIn this video, JPL imaging specialist Justin Maki explains how NASA's Mars Curiosity rover takes a selfie. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech\r\n</p>", "<p>Located in Pasadena, California,\r\nCaltech manages JPL for NASA, and JPL, which built Curiosity, manages the\r\nproject for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.MAHLI\r\nwas built by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.</p>", "<p>For more about Curiosity:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/\"><b>https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/</b></a></p>", "<p><a href=\"http://nasa.gov/msl\"><b>http://nasa.gov/msl</b></a></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Andrew Good<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-393-2433<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov\">andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>Alana Johnson<br>\r\nNASA Headquarters, Washington<br>\r\n202-358-1501<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov\">alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>2020-054</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/msl/20200317/PIA23624-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7614", "title": "High School Students Vie for a Win in Robotics Competition", "introduction": "After duking it out in the 20th Annual Los Angeles FIRST Robotics Regional Competition, three victors are moving on to the world championships.", "updated_at": "2020-03-09 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>The tension was\r\npalpable as six student-built robots vied for dominance at the Da Vinci Schools\r\narena in El Segundo, California, in the second round of the best-of-three final\r\nmatch. Since the Red Alliance had won the first, the Blue Alliance needed a win\r\nthe second. But as the two-minute round concluded, it was clear that the Red\r\nAlliance's victory was assured, and the cheers of hundreds of students, mentors\r\nand spectators erupted from the stands. </p>", "<p>This\r\naction-packed finale marked the culmination of the 20th Annual Los Angeles\r\nFIRST Robotics Regional Competition over the weekend, which attracted 44 teams\r\nof high-school students from the L.A. area, Nevada, Chile, Mexico, France,\r\nBrazil and Turkey. Mentored by experts from a range of\r\naerospace and engineering organizations, including NASA's Jet Propulsion\r\nLaboratory, the students constructed robots to save \"FIRST City\" from\r\nbeing destroyed by asteroids. </p>", "<p>The city and\r\nasteroids, of course, were fictional, but the challenge - called \"Infinite\r\nRecharge\" - was not. Individual teams formed alliances of three teams,\r\ncommanding their robots to collect \"power cells\" (actually, squishy\r\nyellow balls) to energize their protective \"shield generators.\" After\r\nbeing collected from the tennis court-sized arena, the power cells had to be shot\r\ninto the shield generator's open doors. The more balls that hit the target, the\r\nhigher the score. At the end of the round, the robots (which could be as heavy\r\nas 125 pounds, or 57 kilograms) gathered in the center of the arena to employ\r\nan extendible arm, latch onto a dangling metal beam and hoist themselves into\r\nthe air, thereby activating the generator and saving the city.</p>", "<p>While\r\nengineering is at the core of the competition, the task of building robots in a\r\nfew weeks, testing them and then competing against some of the world's best high-school\r\nrobotics teams means so much more to the students.</p>", "<p>\"As an\r\naspiring aerospace engineer, it's really nice to walk into a place where I can\r\nlook at a problem, solve it, and then see how other people have solved it, and\r\ncompete against them,\" said Brian Di Mascio, a junior at L.A.-area Burbank\r\nHigh School and member of the JPL-mentored Team 980 (\"ThunderBots\"). </p>", "<p>This sentiment\r\nwas shared by Irma Lopez, a tenth grader from L.A.'s Foshay Learning Center and\r\nmember of Team 597 (\"The Wolverines\"). \"With robotics, not only\r\nare you developing the hard skills like wiring and programming,\" she said,\r\n\"you're also developing presentation skills, business know-how and understanding\r\nthe importance of community outreach. Overall it's impacted me in a very positive\r\nway.\"</p>", "<p>It impacts the other\r\nparticipants positively, too. Every year for the past two decades JPL has\r\nhelped organize the Los Angeles regional, and for much of that time JPL\r\nengineer David Brinza has been mentoring Thunderbots, which gives him a special\r\nperspective. \"If you're mentoring a team, you get to watch the kids grow;\r\nyou see them take responsibility and assume positions of leadership,\" he\r\nsaid. \"As a part of the FIRST Robotics teams, they learn valuable\r\ncommunication skills and accountability while understanding what it's like to\r\nparticipate in a team environment,\" he said, adding that many of these\r\npractical lessons aren't available in a traditional high school environment.</p>", "<p>The competition\r\ninevitably brings other, unexpected challenges that help to hone other skills. With\r\nonly a few weeks to build robotic creations featuring varying degrees of\r\nautomation - including auto-tracking turrets that could identify the balls'\r\ntarget using code written by the students - anything could go wrong. This was\r\nparticularly true for Chile's Team 5512 (\"Pizza Mec\u00e1nica\").</p>", "<p>\"We came\r\nto the U.S. with the robot in our suitcases,\" said team member Valentina\r\nFlores. \"We built the robot in Chile, but we then had to take it apart and\r\nreassemble it when we got here. We found that parts didn't fit as they\r\nshould.\"</p>", "<p>They managed to\r\nget rolling with a little determination. \"It was hard and stressful, but\r\nwe are here and we have a robot ... or at least something that looks like\r\nit!\" said teammate Joaquim Rodriguez.</p>", "<p>The 2020 Los\r\nAngeles regional's winning Red Alliance was composed of Team 987\r\n(\"Highrollers\"), Team 4201 (\"The Vitruvian Bots\") and Team\r\n6000 (\"Firehawk Robotics\"); all three will progress to the world\r\nchampionships in Houston in April. Team 4400 (\"Pe\u00f1oles Cerbotics\")\r\nfrom Mexico will also advance to the championships after winning the\r\nprestigious Chairman's Award, which recognizes the team that reflects sustained\r\nexcellence in the FIRST community and beyond, serving as role models while\r\neducating the public about FIRST.</p>", "<p>The annual\r\nglobal tournament is organized by the nonprofit FIRST (For Inspiration and\r\nRecognition of Science and Technology) to encourage students to embark on STEM\r\ncareers and to boost team management skills. The 2020 FIRST season has\r\npartnered with Lucasfilm and parent company Disney as part of the \"Star\r\nWars: Force for Change\" philanthropic initiative that aims to inspire the\r\nnext generation of innovators.</p>", "<p>For its\r\ncommitment to the challenge, JPL received FIRST's \"Volunteer of the\r\nYear\" award, the first time the honor has been given to an organization\r\nand not an individual. JPL Public Services Manager\r\nKim Lievense, who has worked with FIRST Robotics for 20 years, accepted the\r\naward on behalf of all the JPL volunteers.</p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation about the FIRST Los Angeles regional, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"http://firstlaregional.com\"><b>http://firstlaregional.com</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation about NASA's Robotics Alliance Project, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"http://robotics.nasa.gov/\"><b>http://robotics.nasa.gov</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Ian J. O'Neill<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-354-2649<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov\">ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>2020-048</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/first/20200309/FIRST20200309-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7620", "title": "NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Gets Its Sample Handling System", "introduction": "The system will be collecting and storing Martian rock and soil. Its installation marks another milestone in the march toward the July launch period.", "updated_at": "2020-03-20 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>With the launch period for NASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance\">Mars\r\nPerseverance rover</a> opening in a little less than four months, the\r\nsix-wheeler is reaching significant pre-launch milestones almost daily at the\r\nKennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rover had some components\r\nremoved prior to being shipped from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in\r\nSouthern California to the Cape in early February. Last week, Perseverance's assembly, test and launch\r\noperations team integrated two components that will play key roles in the\r\nacquisition, containment and eventual return to Earth of humanity's first\r\nsamples from another planet: the Adaptive Caching Assembly and the Bit Carousel.</p>", "<p>The Bit Carousel contains the nine drill bits Perseverance will use to sample\r\nMartian rock and dust. Attached to the top front of the rover on\r\nMarch 7 and resembling a flying saucer, it also is the gateway for the samples to move into the belly of\r\nthe rover for assessment and processing by the Adaptive Caching System. </p>", "<p>Installed\r\non March 3, the Adaptive Caching Assembly consists of seven motors and more\r\nthan 3,000 parts, all working in unison to collect samples from the surface of\r\nMars. A chief component of the assembly is the Sample Handling Arm, which will move\r\nsample tubes to the main robotic arm's coring drill and then transfer the filled\r\nsample tubes into a space to be sealed and stored. </p>", "<p>The\r\ninstallation and testing of the electrical wiring for both the Adaptive Caching\r\nAssembly and Bit Carousel were completed on March 11.</p>", "<p>\"With\r\nthe addition of the Adaptive Caching Assembly and Bit Carousel, the heart of\r\nour sample collection system is now on board the rover,\" said Matt\r\nWallace, deputy project manager of the Mars 2020 mission at JPL. \"Our\r\nfinal but most crucial elements to install will be the sample tubes that will contain\r\nthe first samples that will be brought from another planet back to Earth for\r\nanalysis. We will keep these pristine until we integrate them in a couple of\r\nmonths.\"</p>", "<p>Currently,\r\nthe coronavirus has not impacted the Mars Perseverance rover launch schedule. Launch\r\npreparations are continuing.</p>", "<p>The\r\nPerseverance rover is a robotic scientist weighing just under 2,300 pounds (1,043\r\nkilograms). It will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize Mars'\r\nclimate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth and help pave\r\nthe way for human exploration of the Red Planet. No matter what day Perseverance\r\nlaunches during the launch period, which extends from July 17 through Aug. 5, it\r\nwill alight on Mars' Jezero Crater just after 3:40 p.m. EST (12:40 p.m. PST) on\r\nFeb. 18, 2021.</p>", "<p>JPL, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, is building and\r\nwill manage operations of the Mars Perseverance rover for NASA. The agency's Launch\r\nServices Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is\r\nresponsible for launch management. The Mars\r\n2020 project with its Perseverance rover is part of a larger program that\r\nincludes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the\r\nRed Planet. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will\r\nestablish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through\r\nNASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis lunar exploration plans</a>.</p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation about the mission, go to:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/\"><b>https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>For more about\r\nNASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Grey Hautaluoma / Alana Johnson<br>\r\nHeadquarters, Washington<br>\r\n202-358-0668 /\u00a0 202-358-1501<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov\">grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov</a> / <a href=\"mailto:joshua.a.handal@nasa.gov\">alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p></p>", "<p>DC Agle<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-393-9011<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:david.c.agle@jpl.nasa.gov\">david.c.agle@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>2020-053</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200319/PIA23768-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7612", "title": "Virginia Middle School Student Earns Honor of Naming NASA's Next Mars Rover", "introduction": "NASA chose seventh-grader from Virginia as winner of the agency's \"Name the Rover\" essay contest. Alexander Mather's entry for \"Perseverance\" was voted tops among 28,000 entries.", "updated_at": "2020-03-05 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>NASA's next Mars rover has a new name - Perseverance. </p>", "<p>The name was announced Thursday by Thomas Zurbuchen,\r\nassociate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate, during a\r\ncelebration at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. Zurbuchen was\r\nat the school to congratulate seventh grader Alexander Mather, who submitted the\r\nwinning entry to the agency's \"<a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-students-to-name-next-mars-rover\">Name the Rover</a>\"\r\nessay contest, which received 28,000 entries fromK-12 students from every U.S. state and territory.</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nNASA has chosen a name for its next Mars rover: Perseverance. The name was announced March 5, 2020, by Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington during a celebration at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. Zurbuchen was on hand at the school to congratulate Alexander Mather, who submitted the winning entry to the agency's \"Name the Rover\" essay contest, which received 28,000 entrants from K-12 students from every U.S. state and territory. \r\n</p>", "<p>\"Alex's\r\nentry captured the spirit of exploration,\" said Zurbuchen. \"Like\r\nevery exploration mission before, our rover is going to face challenges, and it's\r\ngoing to make amazing discoveries. It's already surmounted many obstacles to\r\nget us to the point where we are today - processing for launch. Alex and his\r\nclassmates are the Artemis Generation, and they're going to be taking the next\r\nsteps into space that lead to Mars. That inspiring work will always require\r\nperseverance. We can't wait to see that nameplate on Mars.\"</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200305/PIA23761b-640.jpg\" alt=\"Alexander Mather\"> <br>\r\nSeventh-grader Alexander Mather of Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, submitted the winning entry in the agency's \"Name the Rover\" essay contest, making the case to name the Mars 2020 rover \"Perseverance.\" \r\n<br> Credit: Joseph Rebello\r\n<br> <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24805/nasa-rover-naming-contest-winner-alexander-mather/\">Full image and caption</a>\r\n\r\n</p>", "<p>Perseverance\r\nis the latest in a long line of Red Planet rovers to be named by school-age\r\nchildren, from Sojourner in 1997 to the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which\r\nlanded on Mars in 2004, to Curiosity, which has been exploring Mars since 2012.\r\nIn each case, the name was selected following a nationwide contest.</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200305/PIA23767-640.jpg\" alt=\" Members of JPL's assembly \"> <br>\r\nMembers of JPL's assembly, test and launch operations team for NASA's Perseverance mission show appreciation for their newly named rover. The image was taken on March 4, 2020, at a payload processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. \r\n<br> Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech\r\n<br> <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24806/showing-perseverance/\">Full image and caption</a>\r\n\r\n</p>", "<p>The\r\ncontest that resulted in Alex's winning entry of Perseverance\r\nbegan Aug. 28, 2019. Nearly 4,700 volunteer\r\njudges - educators, professionals and space enthusiasts from around the country - reviewed\r\nsubmissions to help narrow the pool down to <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasas-mars-2020-rover-closer-to-getting-its-name\">155 semifinalists</a>. Once that group was\r\nwhittled down to <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nine-finalists-chosen-in-nasas-mars-2020-rover-naming-contest\">nine finalists</a>, the public had five\r\ndays to weigh in on their favorites, logging more than 770,000 votes online, with\r\nthe results submitted to\r\nNASA for consideration. The nine finalists also talked with a panel of experts,\r\nincluding <a href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/about-us/leadership/lori-glaze\">Lori Glaze</a>, director\r\nof NASA's Planetary Science Division; NASA astronaut <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/jessica-watkins/biography\">Jessica Watkins</a>; rover\r\ndriver <a href=\"https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Nick_Wiltsie/\">Nick Wiltsie</a> at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in\r\nCalifornia; and <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24667/clara-ma-then-and-now/\">Clara Ma</a>, who, as a sixth-grade student in 2009,\r\nnamed Curiosity. </p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200305/PIA23766-640.jpg\" alt=\"Nameplate\"> <br>\r\nThis image of the nameplate secured to the arm of NASA's Mars Perseverance rover was taken at a payload servicing facility at Kennedy Space Center soon after being attached on March 4, 2020. The laser-etched plate serves as a rock and debris shield that will protect a flexible electrical cable.\r\n<br> Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech\r\n<br> <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24803/mars-perseverance-nameplate/\">Full image and caption</a>\r\n\r\n</p>", "<p>Up until two\r\nyears ago, Mather was more interested in video games than space. That all\r\nchanged in the summer of 2018, when he visited Space Camp in Alabama. From his\r\nfirst glimpse of a Saturn V - the rocket that launched the Apollo astronauts to\r\nthe Moon half a century ago - Mather became a bona fide space enthusiast,\r\nchecking <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/\">NASA.gov</a> daily, consuming astronaut autobiographies\r\nand even 3D-printing flyable model rockets. When the call went out for students\r\nto propose a name for NASA's new Mars rover, Mather knew he wanted to\r\ncontribute.</p>", "<p>\"This was\r\na chance to help the agency that put humans on the Moon and will soon do it\r\nagain,\" said Mather. \"This Mars rover will help pave the way for\r\nhuman presence there, and I wanted to try and help in any way I could. Refusal\r\nof the challenge was not an option.\"</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nNASA's next Mars rover has a new name: Perseverance. After sorting through more than 28,000 submissions from K-12 students from every U.S. state and territory, one name was chosen. Alexander Mather, a 13-year-old student from Virginia who submitted the winning name, explains why he chose Perseverance as the name of NASA's next robotic scientist to visit the Red Planet.\r\n</p>", "<p>Along with\r\nforever being associated with the mission, Mather will\r\nalso receive an invitation to travel with his family to Cape Canaveral Air\r\nForce Station in Florida to witness the rover begin its journey when it\r\nlaunches this summer. While Mather has received NASA's grand prize in this\r\ncompetition, NASA also is acknowledging the valuable contributions of the semifinalists\r\nwhose entries were among the top ones considered.</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200305/PIA23762b-640.jpg\" alt=\"Thomas Zurbuchen congratulates Alexander Mather\"> <br>\r\nLori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, looks on as Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, congratulates Alexander Mather on March 5, 2020, during a celebration at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. The seventh grader had the honor of naming the agency's next Mars rover after submitting the winning entry to the agency's \"Name the Rover\" essay contest, which received 28,000 entrants from K-12 students from every U.S. state and territory. \r\n\r\n<br> Credit: NASA \r\n<br> <a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24807/nasa-congratulates-rover-naming-contest-winner/\">Full image and caption</a>\r\n\r\n</p>", "<p>\"They\r\ncame so far, and their expressive submissions helped make this naming contest\r\nthe biggest and best in NASA history,\" said Glaze, who also attended the\r\nevent Thursday. \"So, we decided to send them a little farther - 314\r\nmillion miles farther. All 155 semifinalists' proposed rover names and essays\r\nhave been stenciled onto a silicon chip with\r\nlines of text smaller than one-thousandth the width of a human hair and will be flown to Mars aboard the rover.\"</p>", "<p>NASA's\r\nPerseverance rover is a robotic scientist weighing just under 2,300 pounds (1,043\r\nkilograms). Managed for the\r\nagency by JPL, the rover's astrobiology mission\r\nincludes searching for signs of past microbial life. It also will characterize\r\nthe planet's climate and geology, and collect samples of Martian rocks and dust\r\nfor a future Mars Sample Return mission to Earth while paving the way for human\r\nexploration of the Red Planet.</p>", "<p>\"When\r\nword went out during the naming event here at JPL, I took a moment to look\r\naround the auditorium,\" said John McNamee, project manager of the Mars\r\n2020 Perseverance rover mission at JPL. \"I saw all these dedicated men and\r\nwomen who for years have invested the full measure of their intellect and\r\nstamina into the most technologically advanced rover mission in history - and I\r\nsaw a lot of smiling faces and high-fives. Perseverance? You bet, that is a\r\nworthy name that we can be proud of as the first leg of a sample return\r\ncampaign.\"</p>", "<p style=\"font-size:13px; color:#666\">\r\nSending a rover to the Red Planet is more than just 3...2...1... Liftoff! ?? It takes 100s of people and years of hard work to get a spacecraft from Earth to Mars. So when NASA's Perseverance rover touches down on the Martian surface, it will be because of the talented NASA minds that helped to make it happen.</p>", "<p>Perseverance\r\ncurrently is undergoing final assembly and checkout at NASA's Kennedy Space\r\nCenter in Florida. It's targeted to land at Mars' Jezero Crater a little after\r\n3:40 p.m. EST (12:40 p.m. PST) Feb. 18, 2021.</p>", "<p>The rover\r\nnaming contest partnership was part of a Space Act Agreement in educational and\r\npublic outreach efforts between NASA, Battelle of Columbus, Ohio, and Future\r\nEngineers of Burbank, California. Amazon Web Services\r\nis an additional prize provider for the Mars 2020 naming contest and will\r\nprovide Alex and his family a trip to see the launch. </p>", "<p>Mars 2020 is\r\npart of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare\r\nfor human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with landing the first woman\r\nand the next man on the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human\r\npresence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/\">Artemis\r\nprogram</a>.</p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation about the mission, go to:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/\"><b>https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>Follow the\r\nPerseverance Mars rover's official accounts and get answers to your questions\r\nabout the mission at:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere\"><b>https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>and:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://facebook.com/NASAPersevere\"><b>https://facebook.com/NASAPersevere</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p>For more about\r\nNASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mars2020/20200305/PIA23764-home.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7615", "title": "Small Robots Practice Scouting Skills for Future Moon Mission", "introduction": "The upgraded Autonomous Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot, or A-PUFFER, is on a roll. The technology could find itself on a commercial lunar lander in the next few years.", "updated_at": "2020-03-10 09:03:00", "paras": ["<p>The newest edition of NASA's small, foldable robots recently practiced their scouting skills and successfully traversed rugged terrain in the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>JPL developed the Autonomous Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (A-PUFFER) to scout regions on the Moon and gain intel about locations that may be difficult for astronauts to investigate on foot, like hard-to-reach craters and narrow caves. This iteration of A-PUFFER includes several modifications to the <a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/origami-inspired-robot-can-hitch-a-ride-with-a-rover\">previous design</a>. In addition to larger wheels, each robot has an upgraded onboard computer with a wireless radio for communication and a stereo camera for sensing the environment in front of it.</p>", "<p>In February 2020, engineers began testing the upgraded A-PUFFER robots and their new capabilities. Because each A-PUFFER is small enough to fit in a shoebox, multiple robots can be deployed to work together and collaborate on their task. The team of three successfully trekked the sandy and rocky terrain of JPL's Mars Yard while simultaneously mapping the environment using sensors. Their maps were shared with a base station and merged into an integrated map of the Mars Yard. Together, this system demonstrates a capability that could robustly map parts of the Moon that haven't been mapped before.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666\"> \r\n<img src=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/robotics/20200310/A-PUFFER-secondary-640.jpg\" alt=\"Working on Puffer\"> <br>\r\n\r\nProject manager Jean-Pierre de la Croix works on an Autonomous Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (A-PUFFER) during recent trials in the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech <br> <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/robotics/20200310/A-PUFFER-secondary-18.jpg\" alt=\"Working on Puffer\">Larger view</a>\r\n</p>", "<p>\"Collaborative, multi-rover autonomy has the promise to unlock new missions that are either too risky for a single rover or simply require more than one rover to achieve,\" said Jean-Pierre de la Croix, the A-PUFFER project manager at JPL.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p>NASA will continue to test the robots and their autonomous capabilities. A-PUFFER technology could make its way to the Moon on a commercial lunar lander in the next few years.</p>", "<p></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/robotics/20200310/A-PUFFER-MAIN-16.jpg"},
{"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7613", "title": "NASA Satellite Offers Urban Carbon Dioxide Insights", "introduction": "Using data from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, researchers found links between the population density of cities and how much carbon dioxide they produce per person.", "updated_at": "2020-03-06 12:03:00", "paras": ["<p>A new\r\nNASA/university study of carbon dioxide emissions for 20 major cities around\r\nthe world provides the first direct, satellite-based evidence that as a city's population\r\ndensity increases, the carbon dioxide it emits per person declines, with some\r\nnotable exceptions. The study also demonstrates how satellite measurements of this\r\npowerful greenhouse gas can give fast-growing cities new tools to track carbon dioxide\r\nemissions and assess the impact of policy changes and infrastructure\r\nimprovements on their energy efficiency.</p>", "<p>Cities account\r\nfor more than 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions associated with energy production,\r\nand rapid, ongoing urbanization is increasing their number and size. But some densely\r\npopulated cities emit more carbon dioxide per capita than others. </p>", "<p>To better understand why, atmospheric scientists Dien Wu and John Lin of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City teamed with colleagues at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in Columbia, Maryland; and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. They\r\ncalculated per capita carbon dioxide emissions for 20 urban areas on several\r\ncontinents using recently available carbon dioxide estimates from NASA's <a href=\"https://oco.jpl.nasa.gov/\">Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2</a> (OCO-2) satellite, managed\r\nby the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Cities\r\nspanning a range of population densities were selected based on the quality and\r\nquantity of OCO-2 data available for them. Cities with minimal vegetation were\r\npreferred because plants can absorb and emit carbon dioxide, complicating the\r\ninterpretation of the measurements. Two U.S. cities were included: Las Vegas\r\nand Phoenix.</p>", "<p>Many scientists\r\nand policy makers have assumed the best way to estimate and understand\r\ndifferences in carbon dioxide emissions in major cities is to employ a \"bottom-up\"\r\napproach, compiling an inventory of fossil fuel emissions produced by industrial\r\nfacilities, farms, road transport and power plants. The bottom-up method was the\r\nonly feasible approach before remote-sensing data sets became available. This\r\napproach can provide estimates of emissions by fuel type (coal, oil, natural\r\ngas) and sector (power generation, transportation, manufacturing) but can miss\r\nsome emissions, especially in rapidly developing urban areas.</p>", "<p>But for\r\nthis study, researchers instead employed a \"top-down\" approach to\r\ninventory emissions, using satellite-derived estimates of the amount of carbon\r\ndioxide present in the air above an urban area as the satellite flies overhead.\r\n</p>", "<p>\"Other\r\npeople have used fuel statistics, the number of miles driven by a person or how\r\nbig people's houses are to calculate per capita emissions,\" Lin said. \"We're\r\nlooking down from space to actually measure the carbon dioxide concentration\r\nover a city.\"</p>", "<p>Published\r\nFeb. 20 in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the <a href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab68eb\">study</a> found that cities with\r\nhigher population densities generally have lower per capita carbon dioxide emissions,\r\nin line with previous bottom-up studies based on emissions inventories. But the\r\nsatellite data provided new insights. </p>", "<p>\"Our\r\nmotivating question was essentially: When people live in denser cities, do they\r\nemit less carbon dioxide? The general answer from our analysis suggests, yes,\r\nemissions from denser cities are lower,\" said Eric Kort, principal\r\ninvestigator and associate professor of climate and space sciences and\r\nengineering at the University of Michigan. \"It isn't a complete picture,\r\nsince we only see local direct emissions, but our study does provide an\r\nalternative direct observational assessment that was entirely missing before.\"</p>", "<p><b>The Density Factor, and Exceptions</b></p>", "<p>Scientists\r\nhave hypothesized that more densely-populated urban areas generally emit less\r\ncarbon dioxide per person because they are more energy efficient: That is, less\r\nenergy per person is needed in these areas because of factors like the use of public\r\ntransportation and the efficient heating and cooling of multi-family dwellings.\r\nSatellite data can improve our understanding of this relationship because they\r\ndescribe the combined emissions from all sources. This information can be\r\nincorporated with more source-specific, bottom-up inventories to help city\r\nmanagers plan for more energy-efficient growth and develop better estimates of\r\nfuture carbon dioxide emissions.</p>", "<p>The OCO-2\r\ndata show that not all densely-populated urban areas have lower per capita\r\nemissions, however. Cities with major power generation facilities, such as Yinchuan,\r\nChina, and Johannesburg, had higher emissions than what their population\r\ndensity would otherwise suggest. </p>", "<p>\"The\r\nsatellite detects the carbon dioxide plume at the power plant, not at the city\r\nthat actually uses the power,\" Lin said. </p>", "<p>\"Some\r\ncities don't produce as much carbon dioxide, given their population density,\r\nbut they consume goods and services that would give rise to carbon dioxide\r\nemissions elsewhere,\" Wu added. </p>", "<p>Another\r\nexception to the higher population density/lower emissions observation is affluence.\r\nA wealthy urban area, like Phoenix, produces more emissions per capita than a\r\ndeveloping city like Hyderabad, India, which has a similar population density. The\r\nresearchers speculate that Phoenix's higher per capita emissions are due to factors\r\nsuch as higher rates of driving and larger, better air-conditioned homes.</p>", "<p><b>Looking Ahead </b></p>", "<p>The\r\nresearchers stress there's much more to be learned about urban carbon dioxide emissions.\r\nThey believe new data from OCO-2's successor, <a href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/orbiting-carbon-observatory-3-oco-3/\">OCO-3</a> - which launched to\r\nthe International Space Station last year - along with future space-based carbon\r\ndioxide-observing missions, may shed light on potential solutions to mitigating\r\ncities' carbon emissions. </p>", "<p>\"Many\r\npeople are interested in carbon dioxide emissions from large cities,\" Wu said.\r\n\"Additionally, there are a few places with high emissions that aren't\r\nnecessarily related to population. Satellites can detect and quantify emissions\r\nfrom those locations around the globe.\"</p>", "<p>Launched\r\nin 2014, OCO-2 gathers global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide - the\r\nprincipal human-produced driver of climate change - with the resolution,\r\nprecision and coverage needed to understand how it moves through the Earth\r\nsystem and how it changes over time. From its vantage point in space, OCO-2 makes\r\nroughly 100,000 measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the globe every\r\nday. JPL manages OCO-2 for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.</p>", "<p>While OCO-2\r\nwasn't optimized to monitor carbon emissions from cities or power plants, it can\r\nobserve these targets if it flies directly overhead or if the observatory is\r\nreoriented to point in their direction. In contrast, OCO-3, which has been\r\ncollecting daily measurements of carbon dioxide since last summer, features an\r\nagile mirror-pointing system that allows it to capture \"snapshot maps.\"\r\nIn a matter of minutes, it can create detailed mini-maps of carbon dioxide over\r\nareas of interest as small as an individual power plant to a large urban area\r\nup to 2,300 square miles (6,400 square kilometers), such as the Los Angeles\r\nBasin, something that would take OCO-2 several days to do. </p>", "<p>For more\r\ninformation on OCO-2 and OCO-3, visit:</p>", "<p><a href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/oco2\"><b>https://www.nasa.gov/oco2</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><a href=\"https://ocov3.jpl.nasa.gov/\"><b>https://ocov3.jpl.nasa.gov/</b></a><b></b></p>", "<p><strong>News Media Contact</strong></p>", "<p>Jane Lee<br>\r\nJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>\r\n818-354-0307<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:janelee@jpl.nasa.gov\">janelee@jpl.nasa.gov</a></p>", "<p>Paul Gabrielsen<br>\r\nUniversity of Utah, Salt Lake City<br>\r\n801-505-8253<br>\r\n<a href=\"mailto:paul.gabrielsen@utah.edu\">paul.gabrielsen@utah.edu</a></p>", "<p>2020-047</p>"], "image": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/oco2/20200306/OCO2Vegas-16.jpg"}
]