NASA’s Perseverance rover finds strongest evidence yet of potential ancient life on Mars - AS USA

• The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 space probe performed a flyby of the near-Earth asteroid Torifune on Sunday. • JAXA scientists directed the probe to skim within 800 meters (0.5 miles) of the asteroid as part of a specialized test mission.

• Scientists and tech leaders, including Avi Loeb and Elon Musk, are envisioning radical scientific advancements for the United States over the next 25 and 250 years. • The primary goal is to expand human presence beyond Earth and the solar system, potentially enabling the discovery of extraterrestrial life.

• Scientists at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) are developing a new solar wind forecasting method to locate the first plasma boundary of the outer heliosphere. • The team is combining this forecasting approach with analytic and numerical heliosphere models to map the region's characteristics.

• The James Webb Space Telescope has detected a missing wavelength of light on both Pluto and Saturn's moon, Titan. • This specific signal indicates the presence of a mysterious molecule that has never been observed elsewhere in the solar system or the wider universe.

• NASA's live coverage of the Artemis II mission achieved a new agency streaming record, reflecting unprecedented public interest in the lunar journey. • Public sentiment remained largely neutral (47% to 60%) or positive (30% to 42%), driven by excitement over the crew and striking mission imagery.

• A Thai study investigated how varying living conditions in animal shelters impact the physical and mental health of dogs. • Researchers compared three facilities, finding that dogs with the most space and regular enrichment, such as toys and human interaction, exhibited the lowest stress hormone levels.

• The Hubble Space Telescope has detected light from a distant galaxy known as MXDFz4.4, which researchers previously believed should have been invisible. • This "impossible" light suggests that the galaxy existed during a period when the early universe was thought to be opaque.

• Scientists from World Weather Attribution report that the recent U.S. heat wave would have been "virtually impossible" without the influence of human-driven climate change. • The analysis suggests that the current climate is "fundamentally different" from the era before the rapid increase in fossil fuel usage began warming the planet.

• NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image of the globular cluster NGC 6426, featuring red, white, and blue stars that resemble a sparkler. • The image highlights Hubble's ongoing capability to provide detailed cosmic observations after more than three decades in orbit.

• A new study published in *Earth's Future* warns that certain geoengineering methods to combat climate change could inadvertently disrupt global weather patterns. • Researchers found that brightening marine clouds over the eastern Pacific could dramatically weaken the El Niño cycle, whereas stratospheric aerosol injection had little impact on the system.

• NASA has launched a rescue mission to save the Swift telescope, which is rapidly losing altitude and falling toward Earth. • The telescope, originally launched in 2004, is experiencing an accelerated orbital decay caused by recent intense solar storms.