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“Here’s some of the stories trending This
Week at NASA!”

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A new NASA mission to investigate the habitability
of Jupiter's ocean moon Europa has moved from

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the concept phase to the development phase
known as formulation, after successfully completing

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its first major review by the agency.

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Europa is considered to be one of the best
places in the solar system to search for signs

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of present-day life beyond Earth.

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Plans for the mission call for a spacecraft
to be launched to the Jupiter system sometime

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in the 2020s.

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During a June 16 briefing at the 2015 Astrobiology
Science Conference in Chicago, NASA and university

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scientists discussed astrobiology research
and technology being used to advance our search

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for other habitable worlds in our solar system
and beyond.

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Mars, Europa, Saturn’s moon Enceladus and
various exoplanets were discussed.

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Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution,
distribution, and future of life in the universe.

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Progression on NASA’s journey to Mars and
exploration of the Red Planet now includes

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newly signed agreements between NASA and two
European partners.

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Under one agreement, CNES, the French space
agency will provide the structural support

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for the SuperCam on NASA’s Mars 2020 rover.

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The other agreement will extend cooperation
by Spain on the Mars Curiosity rover, NASA’s

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InSight mission to Mars that will launch next
year, and the Mars 2020 rover.

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NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden signed the
agreements during meetings at the Paris Air

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Show.

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NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge and the
robotic systems being developed for future

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asteroid exploration missions were the focus
of a June 16 event at Goddard Space Flight

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Center.

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Agency officials gave a status update on the
Asteroid Grand Challenge, which was started

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two years ago as a way to focus on finding
all asteroid threats to human populations

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and knowing what to do about them.

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They also discussed progress on the Asteroid
Robotic Redirect Mission or (ARRM).

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Representatives from Goddard’s Satellite
Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) also

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discussed the development of robotic systems
for the ARRM and other NASA missions using

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space robotics.

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Deputy Administrator Dava Newman visited with
employees at Langley Research Center on June

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18.

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While there, Newman also toured a Boeing ecoDemonstrator
757 aircraft.

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An ecoDemonstrator has been used for three
NASA research projects conducted in partnership

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with Boeing to test several innovative green
aviation technologies, as part of NASA's Environmentally

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Responsible Aviation Project to reduce aircraft
fuel consumption and emissions.

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NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
or (TRMM) spacecraft re-entered Earth’s

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atmosphere on June 15 at 11:55 p.m. EDT, over
the South Indian Ocean, according to the U.S.

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Strategic Command’s Joint Functional Component
Command for Space through the Joint Space

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Operations Center (JSpOC).

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TRMM was a joint mission between NASA and
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

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to study rainfall for weather and climate
research.

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The spacecraft’s descent had been closely
monitored since the mission was ended in April.

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NASA awarded $100,000 in prize money to a
team from West Virginia University for successfully

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completing Level 2 of the Sample Return Robot
Challenge at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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in Massachusetts.

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The purpose of the challenge was to demonstrate
how an autonomous robot could locate samples

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and return them to the starting zone.

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This was the fourth year of the event, which
is part NASA's Centennial Challenges Program

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to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation
and robotics technologies.

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And that’s what’s up this week @NASA …