A overhead view of the fossil site at Nilpena from an angle where hills and sky are visible. tracks and paths can be seen on bare earth with some small scrubs visible as the only plant life.Jack with a Mars Planetary Protection document.A hole in the ice sits in the center of the image. The ice glows red due to the color of the tent covering the hole. A yellow and red cable extends down into the hole.Science Communication Aboard the JOIDES Resolution. Scientific Ocean Drilling and the Search for Life on Other Worlds
Australia's Nilpena Ediacara National Park: A Site for AstrobiologyDeep in South Australia's Flinders range lies a record of ancient life on Earth.01/04
In Memoriam: Jack Dwayne FarmerJack Farmer, scholar, scientist, mentor, and key contributor to NASA’s flight missions and programs, died on February 22, 2023.02/04
Icefin Dives Below the Antarctic Ice ShelfAn unprecedented view under the ice.03/04
Science Communication Aboard the JOIDES ResolutionScientific Ocean Drilling and the Search for Life on Other Worlds04/04
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Webb Maps Surprisingly Large Plume Jetting From Saturn’s Moon Enceladus (NASA Goddard)May 30, 2023
The NASA insignia is one of the agency's best-known symbols.
NASA Request for Information on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved CommunitiesMay 25, 2023
Jason leans on a counter in a lab full of equipment. He is wearing a long-sleeved dark blue button-up shirt. He has dark hair, a short beard, and glasses. Smiling broadly, he holds a palm-sized meteorite fragment up for the camera in his right hand.
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This view of Jovian moon Europa was created by processing an image JunoCam captured during Juno’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022.
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NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is now named the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, after NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy.
NASA Extends Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Science Operations (NASA)May 22, 2023
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June 04–092023
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Palma de Mallorca, ES
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Illustration of the Perseverance rover arriving on Mars.
NASA MISSIONSMars 2020

NASA's Mars 2020 mission is the next step in NASA's long-term robotic exploration of Mars. The rover Perseverance will provide important data relevant to astrobiology research, along with a vast amount of geological information about the landing site and the planet at large that will help put the astrobiological data into context.

Perseverance will not be looking for organisms living on Mars today. However, the rover will collect data that could be used to identify biosignatures of ancient microbial life.

What really sets this mission apart is that Perseverance will be collecting a suite of samples to be returned to Earth via a Mars Sample Return mission. The opportunity to bring back samples from another planet will allow our researchers to interrogate them with all of the sophistication and thoroughness that Earth-based instrumentation provides.

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