Amending the budget to support humans on the
Moon in 2024 …
What may be causing possible Moonquakes …
And a virtual flight over an area of scientific
interest on Mars … a few of the stories
to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
During an agencywide town hall at our headquarters
on May 14, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine
and other senior agency leaders discussed
the President’s proposed amendment to NASA’s
2020 budget – to support accelerated plans
to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024.
“I think, in a very a very strong vote of
confidence for this agency, the administration
decided to give us $1.6 billion of new spending.
That is a – I think – a very strong indicator
that this administration is committed to achieving
the end state in a bipartisan way.”
Under the President’s Space Policy Directive
-1, we are sending astronauts to the Moon
and then on to Mars, in a measured, sustainable
way – as part of an innovative program of
exploration with commercial and international
partners, to enable human expansion across
the solar system.
For more on our Moon to Mars effort, go to
nasa.gov/moontomars.
According to a study, data from seismometers
placed on the Moon by Apollo astronauts have
provided the first evidence that shifting
of the lunar surface, known as thrust faults,
is still active and likely producing moonquakes
– some believed to be around a magnitude
of 5 on the Richter scale.
Thrust faults – where a section of the Moon’s
crust is pushed up over another – happen
because the gradual cooling of the Moon’s
interior is causing the Moon to shrink.
The May 17 issue of the journal Science includes
the first peer-reviewed scientific results
and interpretations of the Kuiper Belt object
nicknamed Ultima Thule, based on data gathered
during our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic
flyby on New Year’s Day 2019.
The initial data summarized in Science reveal
much about the object’s development, geology
and composition.
In addition to being the farthest exploration
of an object in history – four billion miles
from Earth – the flyby of Ultima Thule was
also the first investigation by any space
mission of a well-preserved planetesimal – an
ancient relic from the era of planet formation.
On May 14, Administrator Bridenstine delivered
the keynote at The Humans to Mars Summit 2019
at The National Academy of Sciences Building,
in Washington, D.C.
The annual event addresses the technical,
scientific and policy challenges of making
human exploration of Mars a reality.
A new animated video shows what it would be
like to soar over Mount Sharp, which NASA's
Curiosity rover has been climbing since 2014.
The aerial tour highlights several regions
on the mountain that are intriguing to Curiosity's
scientists, because those regions could provide
more insight into why water — one of the
most critical resources for life — disappeared
from Mars billions of years ago.
Our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO has
circled the Red Planet 60,000 times – and
counting.
MRO completed that milestone on May 15.
Since entering orbit in March 2006, the spacecraft
has been collecting daily science about the
planet that can be used to define future missions
that bring humans to Mars.
In addition to sending back its own data,
the spacecraft is part of a network that relays
data back to Earth from our Mars rovers and
landers on the surface.
In fact, MRO is expected to reach another
milestone later this month, when it will have
relayed 1 terabit of data, largely from our
Curiosity rover.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA …
For more on these and other stories follow
us on the web at nasa.gov/twan
