In the grandest tradition of exploration, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has once again blazed a trail, showing us new wonders and demonstrating where our curiosity can take us if we dare.

Jim Green

Categorized in : US News

Its not a matter of if; its only a matter of when. by Jim Green

Its not a matter of if; its only a matter of when.

The Voyagers and Pioneers flew through the Kuiper Belt at a time when we didn't know this region existed, new Horizons is on the hunt to understand these objects, and we invite everyone to ring in the next year with the excitement of exploring the unknown.

If there are plumes on Europa, as we now strongly suspect, with Europa Clipper, we will be ready for them.

There must be something about humans not believing in the science, all I can say is we have people who don’t believe we landed on the moon. With the lunar reconnaissance orbiter, we even have high resolution imaging showing what we left on the moon, where it was and where we went to many of the Apollo sites, which clearly demonstrates we were on the moon. So, we are open and honest of what we do. That is a hallmark of NASA.

The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew about Pluto and turned it upside down, the New Horizons mission's why we explore -- to satisfy our innate curiosity and answer deeper questions about how we got here and what lies beyond the next horizon. Related : Spacecraft achieves flyby of Pluto, then calls home September NASA, which is discussing a slew of Pluto discoveries at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in National Harbor, Md. this week, highlighted the ‘ cryovolcanoes ’ as a key finding. Geologists on the New Horizons team combined images of Pluto’s surface to make 3-D maps that indicate two of Pluto’s most distinctive mountains could be ice volcanoes. In its statement September NASA explained that the ‘ cryovolcanoes ’ may even have been active in the recent past. The two candidates are large features on the dwarf planet’s surface measuring tens of miles across and several miles high. Related : September NASA releases first Pluto flyby images.

Asteroids are a hot topic. by Jim Green

Asteroids are a hot topic.

Mars is not the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past. Under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on Mars.

Today, we’re revolutionizing our understanding of the planet, mars is not the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past - under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on Mars.

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As soon as Ridley contacted us and we recognized that he wanted to paint that really accurate picture, it was easy for us to endorse the movie and then provide whatever kind of consultation and advice he needed to be able to execute on it.

[This mission] probably has reignited the debate, but from a NASA perspective we don't get involved in that. We really are not concerned about the nomenclature. What we're concerned about is going to the objects that are most important for us to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system.

Having a scale like this will help us understand where we are in terms of the search for life in particular locations, and in terms of the capabilities of missions and technologies that help us in that quest.