And here is the Nature paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09413-0
Sadly, our best chance of confirming/refuting this finding is in a sample return mission, but our current Mars sample return project is in deep trouble.
It is likely that China will complete a sample return from Mars before we do.
Rocket Lab has proposed an innovative sample return mission, which it offers to do for a fixed price, but so far no one in Congress or NASA is returning their call.
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> Sounds like a NASA admin licking the boots of his patron.
Yes, it is. Keep reading. The real science comes after that. Or go straight to the Nature article, I guess.
I stopped reading, right there.
Are you proud of yourself? Do you think you're sticking it to the cheeto by refusing to learn from an article that briefly mentions him?
I really hate that I have to defend something the Trump administration did, but sucking up to the current president is something that all government organizations do.
Here's a NASA press release celebrating the third anniversary of when Obama gave a speech: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-marks-third-anniversa...
And this NASA press release leads with this quote: "Since President Biden and Vice President Harris were sworn in one year ago, their administration has made generational progress for Americans". https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/one-year-into-the-biden-ad...
NASA press releases have always had "overt political propaganda". It's just more noticeable now because we're on the other side.
Thanks for these examples, I was wondering how much of a history there might be of it.
If they don't want their funding yanked at the drop of a (red) hat, they have no choice but to suck up.