NASA to reveal new discoveries ABOUT OCEANS BEYOND EARTH

WASHINGTON:

NASA will unveil new discoveries this week that involve alien oceans in our solar system, the US space agency announced on Wednesday. On April 13, NASA will hold a press conference that will “discuss new results about ocean worlds in our solar system,” according to the agency.

The discovery will involve findings from the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’S Cassini spacecraft, which is orbiting Saturn. “These new discoveries will help inform ocean world exploration - including NASA’S upcoming Europa Clipper mission planned for launch in the 2020s - and the broader search for life beyond Earth,” NASA officials said.

NASA’S ocean worlds press conference will include a question-and-answer session with a panel of scientists from the Cassini and Hubble missions, as well as NASA’S planetary exploration and science directorates. “Members of the public also can ask questions during the briefing using #AskNASA,” NASA said. NASA’S Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn since 2004 to make detailed observations of the ringed planet and its many moons. The spacecraft is scheduled to end its mission on September 15 with a fiery plunge into Saturn itself to avoid contaminating the planet’s icy moons, NASA said.

The Hubble Space Telescope, meanwhile, has been in orbit around Earth since 1990 and has captured spectacular images of the universe, including of some solar system planets, during its mission.