Has NASA found evidence of life in space? Some of the world’s leading voices on life beyond Earth will gather for a NASA press conference Wednesday where an important announcement on planets outside our solar system was expected to be made, NASA announced Monday. Exoplanets are widely believed to be the best hope of finding life elsewhere in the universe.
NASA vowed to broadcast the announcement featuring astronomers and planetary scientists from across the world on NASA Television and the agency’s website. The space agency was encouraging the public to ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.
The announcement comes as NASA has also been working to send a lander to Europa, Jupiter’s ice moon, to explore the potential for extraterrestrial life. The project includes determining whether life can thrive on Europa.
The full press release about Wednesday’s major announcement titled “NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System” can be found below:
“NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets. The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Details of these findings are embargoed by the journal Nature until 1 p.m.
Limited seating is available in the NASA TV studio for media who would like to attend in person at the agency’s Headquarters at 300 E Street SW in Washington. Media unable to attend in person may ask questions by telephone. To attend in person or participate by phone, media must send an email with their name, affiliation and telephone number to Dwayne Brown at dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov by noon Feb. 22.
Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.
The briefing participants are:
· Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
· Michael Gillon, astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium
· Sean Carey, manager of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC, Pasadena, California
· Nikole Lewis, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore
· Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
A Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) about exoplanets will be held following the briefing at 3 p.m. with scientists available to answer questions in English and Spanish.”
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