Decoding NASA

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wants to put an end to a decades-long debate among scientists. NASA has emerged this Saturday as one of the stories drawing attention in Bangladesh.

Key facts

• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wants to put an end to a decades-long debate among scientists.
• The celestial body’s status as the solar system's ninth planet was withdrawn in 2006.
• Pluto was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh and named – after the Greek god of the underworld – by an 11-year-old English girl named Venetia Burney, according to NASA.
• NASA chief Jared Isaacman wants to restore Pluto to its former glory.
• We now know that such Pluto defenders include Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and tech entrepreneur who became NASA chief this past December.

What we know

Going deeper, the celestial body’s status as the solar system's ninth planet was withdrawn in 2006.

On the substance, Pluto was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh and named – after the Greek god of the underworld – by an 11-year-old English girl named Venetia Burney, according to NASA.

Beyond the headlines, NASA chief Jared Isaacman wants to restore Pluto to its former glory.

More precisely, We now know that such Pluto defenders include Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and tech entrepreneur who became NASA chief this past December.

It is worth noting that Isaacman testified about the White House's 2027 NASA budget request today (April 28) before the U.S.

By the numbers

At this stage, a significant escalation occurred in July 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft returned the first-ever up-close imagery of Pluto.

“I am very much in the camp of [making] Pluto a planet again,” the billionaire SpaceX astronaut told Kansas Sen.

“But there are 1,025 officially recognized Pokémon, and at least that many dinosaur species, and when has that ever stopped a kid being able to name them all?” he questioned.

On the substance, Isaacman says it should be — but it hasn’t been one for 20 years.

What they're saying

“If one day we discover an Earth-mass planet full of inhabitants, orbiting a super-Jupiter, it would not be a planet according to the IAU — how silly is that!” he said.

The wider context

On a related note, But, critics point out that Earth and Jupiter share orbital space with asteroids and research since 2006 has revealed more about Pluto.

Going deeper, Brown, who announced in 2016 that he had found evidence for a ninth planet at 5,000 times the mass of Pluto, had a hand in the International Astronomical Union’s decision and wrote a book about killing Pluto’s status as a planet in 2011.

On the substance, We didn’t know this just 30 years ago,” he told The Independent.

Beyond the headlines, although it is only about 1,400 miles wide – half the width of the U.S. – recent findings show that it may harbor a deep ocean, contain an “active” heart and have icy mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet.

More precisely, the union has only recognized five so far, but more than 100 may wait to be discovered, the space agency notes.

The bottom line

• The celestial body’s status as the solar system's ninth planet was withdrawn in 2006.
• A significant escalation occurred in July 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft returned the first-ever up-close imagery of Pluto.
• Although it is only about 1,400 miles wide – half the width of the U.S. – recent findings show that it may harbor a deep ocean, contain an “active” heart and have icy mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet.