NASA’s Mars rover to begin ‘most challenging’ journey up crater rim
(NEW YORK) — Marking a new journey in NASA’s exploration of Mars, the Perseverance rover is set to begin a monthslong, steep and challenging ascent up a crater, the space agency announced Wednesday.
The Perseverance rover, nicknamed “Percy,” is the centerpiece of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, working to collect data in preparation for future human exploration of the Red Planet.
The car-sized spacecraft has spent two and a half years exploring the Mars Jezero Crater floor and river delta and beginning the week of Aug. 19, will start the ascent up the western rim of the crater.
“Perseverance has completed four science campaigns, collected 22 rock cores, and traveled over 18 unpaved miles,” Art Thompson, Perseverance project manager at of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in a press release Wednesday.
“As we start the Crater Rim Campaign, our rover is in excellent condition, and the team is raring to see what’s on the roof of this place,” Thompson added.
In what will be the “most challenging” journey for the rover to date, Perseverance will rely on auto-navigation capabilities while encountering slopes of up to 23 degrees on the pre-planned path up the crater.
When Perseverance summits the crater, which scientists have dubbed “Aurora Park,” the rover will have gained approximately 1,000 feet in elevation.
Researchers are looking forward to the new frontier of data that awaits the rover on the crater rim, saying the mission expects “many more discoveries to come.”
Eleni Ravanis, a University of Hawaiì at Mānoa scientist on Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument team and one of the Crater Rim Campaign science leads, said the findings will have “significant implications” in understanding the Red Planet.
“Our samples are already an incredibly scientifically compelling collection, but the crater rim promises to provide even more samples that will have significant implications for our understanding of Martian geologic history,” Ravanis said in the release.
(TEMPE, Ariz.) — Police in Tempe, Arizona, are investigating after a Wells Fargo employee was found dead in her cubicle four days after she last scanned into the building.
The Tempe Police Department responded to the office on Aug. 20 after being notified by building security.
Police identified the worker as Denise Prudhomme, 60.
Her cause of death has not yet been determined.
“The preliminary investigation did not show any obvious signs of foul play,” police said.
Prudhomme scanned into the building the morning of Friday, Aug. 16, police said. Her body was found on Aug. 20 in her third-floor cubicle, and she was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m., according to the authorities.
A spokesperson for Wells Fargo said Prudhomme’s cubicle was in an underpopulated part of the building and that colleagues were informed of her death after her family was notified.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague, Denise Prudhomme,” a spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones, and we are in contact to ensure they are well supported during this difficult time.”
The Wells Fargo spokesperson said counselors would be made available to support employees affected by the incident.
“We are committed to the safety and wellness of our workforce,” the spokesperson added.
(NEW YORK) — A 28-year-old high school coach was “randomly shot and killed” standing on a rooftop bar while she was in town for a conference, police said.
Ayden Burt, a 28-year-old high school coach from Jasper Independent School District in Texas, was visiting San Antonio for the Texas High School Coaches Association Conference when, just after midnight, she was randomly shot and killed while standing at a local rooftop bar on the 500 block of E. Crockett St., police said.
“Our Homicide Detectives are working to bring justice to Ayden and her family; however, details are limited,” according to a statement issued by the San Antonio Police Department.
Burt was reportedly at the bar with other coaches from across the state when the shooting occurred.
“She was sitting right next to me laughing and talking and the next bleeding in my lap,” said Humble High School football coach Robert Murphy on X. “My coaches did everything they could performing CPR etc to save her life. She was excited about the upcoming year. Traumatizing.”
Jasper Independent School District Superintendent John Seybold announced her death in a statement on social media.
“It is with a heavy heart that we have learned of the passing of one of our staff members, Ayden Burt. We ask for prayers of comfort for her family, as well as her extended family, the students and staff of Jasper ISD,” Seybold said. “Ayden has been teaching in Jasper ISD since 2019, teaching English at both Jasper High School and Jasper Jr. High, also serving as a Cheer Sponsor and Coach. We ask that everyone respect the privacy of the family and staff at this time.”
The San Antonio Police Department is asking for the public’s help for any information regarding this tragic incident.
If you have any information regarding this murder, please contact our SAPD Homicide unit at 210-207-7635. Any information provided may help solve this case.
(TAMPA, Fla.) — Veteran sailor Nathan Thomas said he and a friend survived a harrowing close encounter with Hurricane Debby off the Gulf Coast of Florida on Sunday after they lost the main sail of a sailboat he had just purchased and were suddenly adrift in 20-foot-plus waves.
The 69-year-old Thomas described the experience to ABC News on Monday as “like being in a washing machine” as he and his sailing partner, Adrian, waited for nearly three hours to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after they made a desperate SOS call.
“I knew that if the Coast Guard didn’t get to us, we had less than a 50% chance of surviving. I knew that,” Thomas said in a telephone interview.
Thomas said he had just purchased the 34-foot sailboat dubbed the “SV Voyager” for $5,000 and picked it up in Marathon, Florida, on Wednesday. He said he was sailing it back to the Tampa area where he lives and thought he could make it home ahead of Debby.
“The storm came across faster than I anticipated. I knew it was there, but I thought I could beat it,” Thomas said. “I played the cards and guess what? I gamble wrong. I lost that hand.”
He said his friend, a retired Merchant Marine, was operating the 40-year-old sailboat, which Thomas described as a racing-style boat that “pivots on a dime.” He said his friend, who was not used to operating such a vessel, overcompensated as he stirred it, causing a steel cable to suddenly snap. The main sail was then rendered useless, causing the men to be set adrift in 20-foot-plus seas.
“You can’t panic. That’s the last thing you can do,” Thomas said. “If s— goes wrong, maintain it. Be in control. Even though it goes wrong and stuff, you still have to maintain what’s going on. The minute you panic, it’s over for you.”
Thomas said when they lost their sail at about 8 a.m. Sunday, he and Adrian were in the Gulf of Mexico about 35 miles northwest of Clearwater, Florida, and 35 miles southwest of Tarpan Springs, where they were headed. At the time, Debby was a tropical storm picking up speed as it approached the Florida Panhandle area.
U.S. Coast Guard officials said they had already launched rescue aircraft by the time Thomas was able to reach them on his radio on Sunday.
A friend of Thomas’ contacted the Coast Guard station at St. Petersburg around 5 p.m. on Saturday to report the boaters had missed their check-in while sailing up from the Florida Keys to Tarpan Springs.
“Some of the most important factors in any rescue case is accurate information and safety equipment,” said Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Hooper, a search-and-rescue mission coordinator for Coast Guard District Seven in Florida. “We received an updated satellite position from the boaters’ friend, which led us to them being successfully located.”
The Coast Guard confirmed to ABC News Monday that the two stranded boaters were found adrift in 15- to-20-foot seas and 50-knot, or about 60 mph, winds.
While visibility at the time was only about a half-mile, a fixed-wing rescue aircraft sent to search for the men was able to find them, according to the Coast Guard. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter arrived and completed the rescue.
“The fixed-wing found us and circled us until the helicopter snatched us out of the water,” Thomas said.
As his friend was being hoisted to safety, Thomas said he went below deck and opened the seacock, or a valve on the hull of the vessel, to sink the boat, adding that it had diesel tanks and oil aboard, as well as about $10,000 worth of electronic equipment, including sonar. He said he sank the boat to prevent it from running aground in a protected nature preserve.
“I scuttled my own boat is what I did,” Thomas said. “I’m not going to have my boat run ashore in some protected area.”
Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds around 7 a.m. Monday in Florida’s Big Bend region.
“I never thought I would ever have to be rescued,” said Thomas, who has been sailing since he was 17 years old. “When I was rescued, I told the Coast Guard, ‘I never thought I’d be rescued by you guys. I’ve been through too many storms, and this storm actually got me.'”
Thomas said the ordeal has not dampened his love for the sea.
“I’m getting another boat, trust me,” Thomas said.