NASA to make big announcement tomorrow.

originally posted by: BlubberyConspiracy
Timed perfectly with the presidential primary and the news of massive disapproval of Clinton in California. With her support of the Honduras coup and assassination of democracy and environmental rights activist Berta Cáceres.

This NASA sublet is probably going to be lame news, mostly about the hype to block a critical news story to one of the biggest election thefts in US history. Stuff basically waiting in queue "in case distraction needed" or more nicely put "PR blocked until cap lifted" to give access to one of the two only media giants a nice front page story to divert.

?????????????????????????????? Erm, say what again?

a reply to: darkmaninperth

The article you posted in the OP states:

The announcement is unlikely to have anything to do with alien life forms, but NASA doesn’t usually hold a press conference about its scientific findings unless it’s kind of a big deal.

... But that's not necessarily true. Well, it may be true, but just relative to what different people consider a "big deal".

Something that a scientist might consider a "big deal" may not be a big deal in the eyes of laymen. It might really be a big deal in the science community, but if it isn't life changing and history book-altering, most regular people just say "so what?".

This has happened in the past on several occasions with these NASA press conferences. NASA regularly schedules the press conferences to announce major scientific findings, but time and time again people here on ATS are post their disappointment in NASA because they didn't feel the news actually was a big deal -- even when it was a big deal to the scientists researching the issue.

My prediction is that whatever scientific findings or data are announced, no matter how exciting the findings are among the scientific community, there will be people on this board saying "So what? Why did NASA bother having a press conference for this?"

a reply to: darkmaninperth

Given that this is being presented by NASA’s planet hunting Kepler space telescope team, it's obviously something to do with something they have spotted.

I'm betting that it's going to be more than one new discovery, probably a handful of new planets in a Goldilocks zone. I think we've been expecting them to discover more and more habitable looking planets as the technology develops and the mathematical formulations suggest there are potentially millions of them out there.

Of course, we all want them to say that they're spotted a planet and there seems to be signs of intelligent life, but that's not what we're going to get.

It's important to remember that the correct team will be heading up relevant releases of information, it's their job to run these scientific projects so of course they're going to be the ones making statements about their achievements.

There are so many potential locations for habitable worlds, in the next few years the discovery of another ten of them is going to barely make the news. Things are speeding up and the discoveries we are making are increasing as a result. Pretty soon we're going to have potentially hundreds or even thousands of Earth-like worlds out there worthy of scientific exploration and we will have to shift focus from discovering where they are to creating a way to reach them with probes.

I'm really looking forward to seeing them developing the drive systems they've been testing, there's been a lot of work done on this over the last few years and if these methods work as some believe it could mean getting a probe to one of these planets will take weeks rather than decades.

By the way, to add to my post above, it should be noted that NASA rarely (if ever) hypes these press conferences as being "history-making news" as much as the people outside of NASA (such as people on ATS) hype these press conferences as being potentially history-making news.

NASA just simply announces a press conference to discuss a major scientific finding, but then people's imagination run rampant with speculation, twisting the phrase "major scientific finding" (which to scientists, it usually is) to mean that the news will be one that changes our lives. Don't blame NASA for that hype; they are almost never the ones doing the hyping.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
My prediction is that whatever scientific findings or data are announced, no matter how exciting the findings are among the scientific community, there will be people on this board saying "So what? Why did NASA bother having a press conference for this?"

Sadly I think you're right.
Scientific discovery is lost on most. The average person in the street won't give a damn about it, they'll just be like "Unless a Kardashian discovered it I don't really care!"

On here it's more like "Aliens! Where are the aliens? We want aliens!!!!" lol

I think it's going to be the announcement that they've discovered several new planets of interest. I think this has been expected for a while, that there would come a time when our ability to look out there and see things more clearly would lead to us discovering new things every day.

I think it's incredibly exciting, there's so much to discover that it almost blows my mind when I think about how much we might find in my lifetime.

a reply to: BigBrotherDarkness

Yeah, I don't understand the thing where people feel like they can only pay attention to one news story on any given day, or only what is spoon fed to them.

a reply to: darkmaninperth

Given the enormous reach, of the Kepler telescope, the discovery could take practically any shape. The folks running it could have found an interesting planet, a solar system of particular interest, or any other cosmic object of significant import.

There is barely any point in speculating beyond a certain point. Yes, it will have to do with distant objects, but greater detail than that would be impossible to guess at. I will, however, await further data with interest. No matter how apparently mundane their announcements have been in the past, I am always fascinated to hear tell of the discoveries Kepler and other missions are making in the depths of space.

Since the linked article only said announcement not "big announcement" I'm going with another planet that 'could' contain life. That or they're happy to report Bob found his glasses.

While being kept up to date on what NASA finds is nice. I do wish they would just post up the information and keep the announcement for much larger confirmed discoveries.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Dark Ghost

Any juicy speculations besides disclosure, alien structures, newly discovered habitual planet, new technology or something entirely unexpected?

What is a habitual planet?

You left out a planet killing asteroid being on the way.

A habitual planet is one that consistently is a planet regardless of the consequences of being so.

originally posted by: ObjectZero

While being kept up to date on what NASA finds is nice. I do wish they would just post up the information and keep the announcement for much larger confirmed discoveries.

It's a press conference, so the structure of these announcements is usually first the scientific team making the announcement while citing the scientific details, followed up by the various members of the press (in the room and on the phone) then asking questions, which the science team attempts to answer.

If they want it to be a question-and-answer session, a press conference is (for now) the most accessible way to have that sort of question-and-answer session.

originally posted by: ManBehindTheMask
Same as they always are

"We've found another planet that could be earth like in the goldilocks Zone"

- end of conference

No offense to the OP but every time they do this and someone makes a thread and this is pretty much all that is said by nasa

Agreed. This is almost certainly the news. Sadly.

Not that exoplanets are not interesting. But they arent really are they?

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: darkmaninperth

Given the enormous reach, of the Kepler telescope, the discovery could take practically any shape. The folks running it could have found an interesting planet, a solar system of particular interest, or any other cosmic object of significant import.

There is barely any point in speculating beyond a certain point. Yes, it will have to do with distant objects, but greater detail than that would be impossible to guess at. I will, however, await further data with interest. No matter how apparently mundane their announcements have been in the past, I am always fascinated to hear tell of the discoveries Kepler and other missions are making in the depths of space.

Funny, i have a deep love of all things physics and space related, but find exoplanets boring as hell.

Im waiting for the day NASA admits to sending Fido through a black hole. Its about time.

a reply to: darkmaninperth

Will this big announcement by NASA be akin to other big announcements which basically just regurgitate things the community knew months in advance?

originally posted by: 3danimator2014

Not that exoplanets are not interesting. But they arent really are they?

Not yet. However, there might be a time soon that we will have the ability to analyze spectral data coming from an exoplanet in such detail that we may find a planet with -- say for example -- excess oxygen in its atmosphere. "Excess oxygen" would be something like the 20% of Earth's atmosphere that is oxygen, which is a percentage that we think can only be sustained through life processes.

The next round of telescopes being built and planned may have the ability to do such a detailed analysis of an exoplanet's spectrum. I personally find that interesting.

originally posted by: UnBreakable
a reply to: darkmaninperth

Will this big announcement by NASA be akin to other big announcements which basically just regurgitate things the community knew months in advance?

As mentioned, NASA didn't say "big announcement"; they only said "announcement".

It is everyone else who hypes these media conferences (which NASA holds regularly as a means for getting information about what they are doing to the press and the public); NASA itself hasn't hyped anything regarding this announcement.


Here's the press release announcing the media conference. The press release is actually quite vanilla and very matter-of-fact:

NASA to Announce Latest Kepler Discoveries During Media Teleconference

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People

originally posted by: UnBreakable
a reply to: darkmaninperth

Will this big announcement by NASA be akin to other big announcements which basically just regurgitate things the community knew months in advance?

As mentioned, NASA didn't say "big announcement"; they only said "announcement".

It is everyone else who hypes these press conferences (which NASA holds regularly as a means for getting information about what they are doing to the press and the public); NASA itself hasn't hyped anything regarding this announcement.

You are right. I was about to instant message my wife that Nasa are making a big announcement tomorrow and decided to double check and saw that it just said announcement. So i didnt bother as, as you say, these are regular.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People

originally posted by: 3danimator2014

Not that exoplanets are not interesting. But they arent really are they?

Not yet. However, there might be a time soon that we will have the ability to analyze spectral data coming from an exoplanet in such detail that we may find a planet with -- say for example -- excess oxygen in its atmosphere. "Excess oxygen" would be something like the 20% of Earth's atmosphere that is oxygen, which is a percentage that we think can only be sustained through life processes.

The next round of telescopes being built and planned may have the ability to do such a detailed analysis of an exoplanet's spectrum. I personally find that interesting.

Of course. The thought of other planets is mind blowing. Just not now.

Will it be more lies by any chance?

originally posted by: dJbdJb
Will it be more lies by any chance?

More Lies?

What lies have they already announced?