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Amending the budget to support humans on the
Moon in 2024 …

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What may be causing possible Moonquakes …

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And a virtual flight over an area of scientific
interest on Mars … a few of the stories

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to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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During an agencywide town hall at our headquarters
on May 14, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

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and other senior agency leaders discussed
the President’s proposed amendment to NASA’s

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2020 budget – to support accelerated plans
to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024.

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“I think, in a very a very strong vote of
confidence for this agency, the administration

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decided to give us $1.6 billion of new spending.

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That is a – I think – a very strong indicator
that this administration is committed to achieving

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the end state in a bipartisan way.”

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Under the President’s Space Policy Directive
-1, we are sending astronauts to the Moon

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and then on to Mars, in a measured, sustainable
way – as part of an innovative program of

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exploration with commercial and international
partners, to enable human expansion across

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the solar system.

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For more on our Moon to Mars effort, go to
nasa.gov/moontomars.

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According to a study, data from seismometers
placed on the Moon by Apollo astronauts have

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provided the first evidence that shifting
of the lunar surface, known as thrust faults,

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is still active and likely producing moonquakes
– some believed to be around a magnitude

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of 5 on the Richter scale.

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Thrust faults – where a section of the Moon’s
crust is pushed up over another – happen

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because the gradual cooling of the Moon’s
interior is causing the Moon to shrink.

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The May 17 issue of the journal Science includes
the first peer-reviewed scientific results

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and interpretations of the Kuiper Belt object
nicknamed Ultima Thule, based on data gathered

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during our New Horizons spacecraft’s historic
flyby on New Year’s Day 2019.

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The initial data summarized in Science reveal
much about the object’s development, geology

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and composition.

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In addition to being the farthest exploration
of an object in history – four billion miles

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from Earth – the flyby of Ultima Thule was
also the first investigation by any space

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mission of a well-preserved planetesimal – an
ancient relic from the era of planet formation.

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On May 14, Administrator Bridenstine delivered
the keynote at The Humans to Mars Summit 2019

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at The National Academy of Sciences Building,
in Washington, D.C.

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The annual event addresses the technical,
scientific and policy challenges of making

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human exploration of Mars a reality.

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A new animated video shows what it would be
like to soar over Mount Sharp, which NASA's

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Curiosity rover has been climbing since 2014.

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The aerial tour highlights several regions
on the mountain that are intriguing to Curiosity's

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scientists, because those regions could provide
more insight into why water — one of the

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most critical resources for life — disappeared
from Mars billions of years ago.

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Our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO has
circled the Red Planet 60,000 times – and

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counting.

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MRO completed that milestone on May 15.

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Since entering orbit in March 2006, the spacecraft
has been collecting daily science about the

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planet that can be used to define future missions
that bring humans to Mars.

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In addition to sending back its own data,
the spacecraft is part of a network that relays

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data back to Earth from our Mars rovers and
landers on the surface.

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In fact, MRO is expected to reach another
milestone later this month, when it will have

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relayed 1 terabit of data, largely from our
Curiosity rover.

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That’s what’s up this week @NASA …