Tag: NASA

Europa vs Enceladus: Scientists May Have Picked the Wrong Moon for the Next Mission in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life in the Solar System

Jupiter’s moon Europa was chosen for a future NASA flagship mission back in the 90s, but by the time the mission was in development, another moon, Saturn’s Enceladus, could have been swapped out as a potentially better option. Scientists hoping to study both with a follow-up mission to Enceladus made a bad gamble, as NASA will probably reduce science funding in the next decade in favor of developing technology for their goal of beating China to Mars–dashing hopes to study Enceladus any time soon.

Russian response to US sanctions leads to innovation from US aerospace industry

Major US sanctions on Russia in the past decade have lead the Russian space agency director to threaten restrictions on NASA and astronauts. These comments led to uncertainty in Russia’s reliability to maintain necessary operations on the International Space Station (ISS). To secure the future of the ISS, NASA and private spaceflight companies have had to respond with innovation to create replacements and alternatives.