NASA Major Announcement coming (Drip drip and bigger drip for Disclosure)

Here (beolow) is NASA's announcement. It doesn't sound like they are discussing any world-shattering/history-changing news, but rather just an update on some new findings about oceans in our solar system, most likely on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn -- Saturn in particular because they mentioned the Cassini probe. I'm thinking they will have new insights about the sub-surface oceans of Saturn's moons Enceladus and Titan, both of which are places NASA has said could potentially contain life.

Considering one of the panelists is involved in Cassini's ion mass spectrometer, I'm thinking some of this will be about analyses of the water that is shot into space by the geysers of Enceladus -- water that comes from the moon's sub-surface ocean ejected into space when the Cassini probe can "taste" that water.

Cassini has done this several times, and complex organic molecules had been found in that water (the building blocks of life, but NOT life itself). I think potentially new discoveries have been gleaned from the data from these water-tasting fly-bys, and that's one of the things that will be discussed.

The announcement also mentions the upcoming Europa Clipper mission, which will give them an opportunity to discuss (and introduce to some) the Europa Clipper, and also discuss the subsurface oceans of Jupiter's moons Ganymede and Europa, and potentially beneath the surface of Callisto. All three have been mentioned by NASA in the past as potentially having the type of ocean that could harbor life.



NASA, being a public agency, holds these media conferences on a semi-regular basis to keep the public informed about the research they are conducting, and the results and findings of that research.

By the way -- As you can see in the official announcement from NASA scheduling this news briefing, NASA did not use the word "Major" in its announcement like the OP's source did by claiming "Major Announcement" public having an unrealistic expectation of what NASA will be discussing.


NASA to Reveal New Discoveries in News Conference on Oceans Beyond Earth

NASA will discuss new results about ocean worlds in our solar system from the agency’s Cassini spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope during a news briefing 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 13. The event, to be held at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, will include remote participation from experts across the country.

The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

These new discoveries will help inform future ocean world exploration -- including NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission planned for launch in the 2020s -- and the broader search for life beyond Earth.

The news briefing participants will be:
- Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington 
- Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters
- Mary Voytek, astrobiology senior scientist at NASA Headquarters
- Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
- Hunter Waite, Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer team lead at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio
- Chris Glein, Cassini INMS team associate at SwRI
- William Sparks, astronomer with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore

A question-and-answer session will take place during the event with reporters on site and by phone. Members of the public also can ask questions during the briefing using #AskNASA.

The Europa Clipper mission is exciting. Although it will not be in direct orbit of Europa (Jupiter's immense magnetic field causes issues with keeping a Europa orbit because of the moon's proximity to Jupiter), the spacecraft will be in aan orbit around Jupiter that includes multiple close fly-bys of Europa.

What's exciting about the mission is that among the suite of instruments that the Europa Clipper will have, there will be a couple of instruments (the MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration, or MASPEX and the SUrface Dust Mass Analyzer, or SUDA) that will be able to analyze particles from of Europa's surface and from its oceans that are ejected into space by plumes on Europa in a manner a little similar to the geysers of Enceladus.

Just like (as I mentioned above) Cassini being able to analyze the water from the sub-surface ocean of Enceladus, the Europa Clipper will hopefully analyze the water from the sub-surface ocean of Europa.

originally posted by: JackHill
Really? Well maybe they forgot to check the backyard, since we have been dealing with ET visitations for over a century.

Maybe you should pack up all your evidence and show it to them.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

7 potential life supporting planets around 1 star, was not boring or mundane.

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

7 potential life supporting planets around 1 star, was not boring or mundane.

I agree. Many other people who (similar to you and me) have an interest in space exploration and astrobiology probably also agree. I find missions such as Cassini, Dawn, New Horizons, Galileo, and the upcoming Europa Clipper very exciting in of themselves, even without the confirmation of life elsewhere.

However, seemingly without fail, many people on ATS will come on here after the press briefing and complain that the information presented by NASA was not that exciting. Some people are expecting each one of these NASA press briefings to be "We found living creatures on Titan!" or even "OMG!!! ET has contacted us!!" and when it isn't that, they get upset.

This looks to be what all the supposed NASA excitement is about, which will come out Thursday. I wish it had to do with aliens, but it does not. Has more to do with Europa it sounds like. Nothing disclosure unfortunately.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: JackHill
Really? Well maybe they forgot to check the backyard, since we have been dealing with ET visitations for over a century.

Maybe you should pack up all your evidence and show it to them.

The evidence is all over the place, during decades people that never meet eachother have been discussing their (even sometimes) traumatic experiences with the visitors. Now you're just trolling, you know the information is out there and cannot being explained by ordinary means. Period.

originally posted by: JackHill
Now you're just trolling, you know the information is out there and cannot being explained by ordinary means. Period.

You're simply wrong. There has never been a single bit of verified information produced that has ever proven the existence of aliens of any kind.

originally posted by: JackHill

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: JackHill
Really? Well maybe they forgot to check the backyard, since we have been dealing with ET visitations for over a century.

Maybe you should pack up all your evidence and show it to them.

The evidence is all over the place, during decades people that never meet eachother have been discussing their (even sometimes) traumatic experiences with the visitors. Now you're just trolling, you know the information is out there and cannot being explained by ordinary means. Period.

I want to troll for a minute, if that's ok.

Simply out of boredom.(I think this same thread and discussion get repeated every four months or so. That's the REAL conspiracy here!)

Let us consider the argument that NASA, or the government, aka they, are not disclosing the existence of creatures from another planet that leave no verifiable evidence of their existence in order to prevent the religious from blowing a gasket.

The religious, who believe in a being that cannot be seen, heard, and leaves no verifiable evidence of his/her existence.

Kind of like when Bert and Ernie can't tell you the location of Hogwarts because Darth Vader won't allow it. Yet Bert and Ernie are actually telling you "Hey, man, we're looking for Hogwarts, but we just haven't found it yet." And you come along and say "Lies! I saw a YouTube video SHOWING that Hogwarts is actually being hidden inside the Death Star!" Then Bert's like "No, but we found a place called Sesame Street." and Ernie's like, "Yeah, and there's seems to be some creature living in a trash can!"

"Blah!," you say. "Who care's about a trash can! Disclosure will never happen!"

"We did disclose, there's a dude in a trash can named Grover. And a Big Bird", Ernie says.

"NO...Darth Vader won't let you tell the truth, because Han Solo couldn't handle it!", you say.

"Well, if we find anything that's hints to existence of Hogwarts, we'll let you know." Bert just shakes his fuzzy, cone shaped head. He doesn't even know what to say after that.

Hell...that's all I've got. I could ramble more, but it would start to get REALLY strange.

NASA will officially announce Tom Delonge will be announcing something REALLY BIG...REALLY SOON...ish.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: privatepilotuk

I feel like Trump would have told the world about aliens' existence if the government really did secretly know about them. Notice he hasn't done that?

First time I remember agreeing with you.

Also, I've noticed that NASA buzz is bigger which I attribute to Trump saying something like this to them: "Find something. Do something, find something. I don't mind giving you the money, but then give me something back. You know; something big. Or else I take the money and I build a wall. You see? Fly me to the Moon, or Mars; I don't care if you invent a time travel device or meet aliens, I don't care. Find something, do something, or I give people their money back. Capice?"

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People


7 potential life supporting planets around 1 star, was not boring or mundane.

Except that the potential is quite low. While they are within the habitable zone of their star, they are also very close to that star. High levels of electromagnetic radiation could be problematic for life to develop. Tidal locking, how that would affect the development of life. Who knows?

It would be cool though. You could watch your neighbor worlds zoom past you as you zoom around your sun. Your very, very, close sun.

We know of even weirder systems. And are bound to find more.

We may have stronger evidence that TRAPPIST-1e,f,g may have an atmosphere to support liquid water. I do hope we have microbial life around Jupiter or Saturn. That would be awesome news.

a reply to: privatepilotuk




Not holding my breath. What's exciting to scientists is generally not as exciting to the general public. Its great if they found a methane spike on Mars, water shooting out of Enceladus, etc., but don't ever expect them to tell us they found intelligent aliens or anything approaching that. IMHO,if they do have proof of ET, they don't think the little people are ready for it. Unfortunately, most scientists are a bunch of arrogant elitists who think anyone who didn't attend an Ivy league school is a peasant. Carl Sagan was an exception to that, but the scientific community shunned him for wanting to make science friendly to the "commoners".

That's a pretty broad brush swipe at scientists! Did all scientists go to Ivy League colleges/university? No, that's just not true.

I would think that any scientist who found evidence of alien life would be falling over themselves to get the news out.

NASA would, I am sure, be wetting themselves with excitement.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: JackHill
Now you're just trolling, you know the information is out there and cannot being explained by ordinary means. Period.

You're simply wrong. There has never been a single bit of verified information produced that has ever proven the existence of aliens of any kind.

Plenty of that, you just chose to ignore it.

Irrelevant before the facts.

originally posted by: VekTorVik

originally posted by: JackHill

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: JackHill
Really? Well maybe they forgot to check the backyard, since we have been dealing with ET visitations for over a century.

Maybe you should pack up all your evidence and show it to them.

The evidence is all over the place, during decades people that never meet eachother have been discussing their (even sometimes) traumatic experiences with the visitors. Now you're just trolling, you know the information is out there and cannot being explained by ordinary means. Period.

I want to troll for a minute, if that's ok.

Simply out of boredom.(I think this same thread and discussion get repeated every four months or so. That's the REAL conspiracy here!)

Let us consider the argument that NASA, or the government, aka they, are not disclosing the existence of creatures from another planet that leave no verifiable evidence of their existence in order to prevent the religious from blowing a gasket.

The religious, who believe in a being that cannot be seen, heard, and leaves no verifiable evidence of his/her existence.

Kind of like when Bert and Ernie can't tell you the location of Hogwarts because Darth Vader won't allow it. Yet Bert and Ernie are actually telling you "Hey, man, we're looking for Hogwarts, but we just haven't found it yet." And you come along and say "Lies! I saw a YouTube video SHOWING that Hogwarts is actually being hidden inside the Death Star!" Then Bert's like "No, but we found a place called Sesame Street." and Ernie's like, "Yeah, and there's seems to be some creature living in a trash can!"

"Blah!," you say. "Who care's about a trash can! Disclosure will never happen!"

"We did disclose, there's a dude in a trash can named Grover. And a Big Bird", Ernie says.

"NO...Darth Vader won't let you tell the truth, because Han Solo couldn't handle it!", you say.

"Well, if we find anything that's hints to existence of Hogwarts, we'll let you know." Bert just shakes his fuzzy, cone shaped head. He doesn't even know what to say after that.

Hell...that's all I've got. I could ramble more, but it would start to get REALLY strange.

Sigh... just read the casuistic, read about the cases, again, for the God's sake, people all over the place, over a timeframe of decades, describing over and over again the same kind of experiences, the same procudeures, the same creatures, physical experiences, not 'mental disorders', people actually lose time and cannot be found anywhere, phisically disappear, people share common memories when abducted at the same time, they go to sleep and in the morning waking up with fully formed scars, etc, etc. It's amazing how you just can ignore it.

There will NEVER be an agreement on this subject. I don't get it y'all spending words on it.

What is evidence? Is it the government telling us that they exist? Because plenty of government members already have.

But what is "The government"? One, two or thirteen people, can they be considered government? Or we need the President of the United States to get a press conf to tell us? IS he government enough? Also, wtf man! Do you trust the government anymore?

If aliens do exist and if government knows about them, you can make sure they're doing e v e r y t h i n g in their hands to make you think otherwise. Disinformation, hiding evidence, brainwash, etc. So, it's pointless anyways.

And you can NOT tell that they do not exist, because no one here has reached other planets or solar systems or galaxies.

Also, you can NOT tell they do exist because what solid evidence do you have to present us? Videos and photos can be forged, witnesses can lie, flying saucers can be man made, etc.

You see, there's always something that invalidate any theory about this subject. So please just stop with this discussion and let people believe in what they want to believe.

originally posted by: openminded2011
IMHO,if they do have proof of ET, they don't think the little people are ready for it.

Meh -- I never bought this argument.

Average people have believed for a long time though there is probably other life out there. Back in Percival Lowell's days, he talked about seeing signs of an intelligent civilization on Mars (the canals and such), and write extensively about it that civilization -- and many average people accepted that idea as fact.

They could handle it the idea of intelligent life elsewhere, and I'm sure we could handle it as well. Scientists (including NASA scientists) already openly say that it is extremely likely that other intelligent life exists somewhere in the universe, and people don't panic in the streets over that idea.

Granted, that isn't the same as a confirmation of that intelligent life through making contact, but like I said, many people 100 years ago already thought that Lowell's Mars civilization was fact and were OK with it, and I like to think we are at least equally open to finding out about intelligent life elsewhere as they were.

And the public in general is certainly able to accept the confirmation of microbial life elsewhere in our own solar system

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

I don't think this is the reason. Do you believe that they give a single F#CK about the people being "ready" or not?

If humanity discover something this big, the government will lose all the control they have on us. People will no longer accept their conditions.

At least I won't.

originally posted by: vinifalou

What is evidence? Is it the government telling us that they exist? Because plenty of government members already have.

Do you have any specific government officials in mind who have said that they have government proof of alien visitation?

I'm not talking about people like Paul Hellyer (former Canadian Defense Minister). Hellyer had already said that his belief in alien visitation did NOT come from secret government information he learned from being the Defense Minister. His beliefs come from non-official sources, hearsay, and his personal opinion (just like many other people who believe in alien visitation).

I'm sure there are people who work in government -- just like people who work in other professions -- who have a belief in alien visitation. However, unless those government officials can provide hard secret government proof of alien visitation, and not simply speak about their opinion on the matter, then their belief is no different than non-government people.