NASA In The News: Space Agency Talks Juno, Mars Rover, And ‘Cutting’ ISS Feed [Video]

NASA has been in the news a lot over the last few days and weeks. The Juno spacecraft, launched by NASA in August of 2011, finally arrived at the solar system’s largest planet on July 4th, and NASA has been sharing incredible new imagery with the United States and the rest of the world as the craft continues to maneuver around the gas giant. According to Space Flight Insider, NASA will make the first high-resolution images snapped by Juno available to the public toward the end of August, the next time the probe and its camera get to their closest point to Jupiter.

The photos are expected to be taken on August 27, and NASA fans following the Juno news will be able to check out the publicly-released images here.

.@NASA releases first image taken by the Juno spacecraft while in orbit: https://t.co/RVg7H5NuMJ @HuffPostScience pic.twitter.com/AXOqOTm9wr

— NRDC ?? (@NRDC) July 17, 2016

In addition to making waves with the progress of the Juno mission, which will ultimately incorporate scientific studies and research into Jupiter, NASA’s Mars Rover mission has been getting a lot of attention lately. This is because NASA recently made its way into the news again with the announcement of a new Mars Rover mission, which is slated to take place in 2020.

These are the very first in-orbit images of Jupiter sent back by NASA’s #Juno spacecraft. pic.twitter.com/BRfOY6gjn0

— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 13, 2016

As AutoBlog reports, the news of NASA’s 2020 Mars Rover mission is trending because of what the new rover is expected to be looking for when it gets to the red planet.

According to NASA, the next-generation Mars Rover has been developed in “mixed reality simulations” already, and the space agency is getting ready to reveal (almost) final designs of the new Mars probe. It is expected to be launched by NASA on a mission to Mars in summer 2020. When it gets to the surface, NASA says that the Rover is going to be looking for signs of past life on the planet.

#Mars2020, our next Mars rover, targeted to launch in 2020 & probe for evidence of past life https://t.co/Wgy8cpiwCE pic.twitter.com/pngLofRV4E

— NASA (@NASA) July 15, 2016

The news surrounding the new 2020 NASA Mars rover indicates that the vehicle has been totally redesigned, with an all-new array of scientific instruments created to help the new NASA toy study Mars in detail and with relative ease. Among the new Mars Rover’s ultimate goals is to help NASA scientists determine whether or not Martian resources will be beneficial to future human missions to the red planet.

“These experiments will help engineers learn how to use Martian resources to produce oxygen for human respiration and potentially for use as an oxidizer for rocket fuel. Mars has resources needed to help sustain life, which can reduce the amount of supplies that human missions will need to carry.”

Because the next-generation NASA Mars Rover will be able to manage such specimen-gathering techniques as core drilling, NASA scientists will be able to use the Rover to help figure out whether or not Mars has ever harbored life in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6tXbeSn2PM

Not all of NASA’s recent news making has had to do with exploring the solar system. In early July, multiple reports came in that NASA had cut the International Space Station’s live feed transmission. The reason? According to many, a UFO had entered the field of vision of the ISS camera, and NASA was trying to avoid making news for broadcasting a live alien spacecraft as it entered the earth’s atmosphere.

Here's hoping a visitor from another galaxy enter the U.S. presidential race. That may be the best choice after all.

— Marguerite Duras (@LoverDuras) July 14, 2016

NASA shuts down the video feed EVERY TIME there is some kind of "anomaly." If you're NASA, it's what you do.

— Clarence Beeks, Crop Report Specialist (@AlfredENewman5) July 13, 2016

The internet buzz surrounding the alleged deliberate cutting of the live feed by NASA sparked so many rumors and accusations that NASA made some news of its own by responding to the public outcry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W22x4ZXB05o

Here’s what NASA had to say about the now-infamous ISS incident, as reported by Nature World News.

“The International Space Station regularly passes out of range of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) used to send and receive video, voice and telemetry from the station. For video, whenever we lose signal (video comes down on our higher bandwidth, called KU), the cameras will show a blue screen (indicating no signal) or a preset video slate, depending on where you are watching the feed.”

So, there you have it, folks. While it seems like NASA has been largely dominating recent science news, the space agency says it’s not because it’s really covering up UFOs.

[Image via Shutterstock]