“We should not hold science hostage to the shutdown politics of the day… Joe Rogan suggested that I contact the interim NASA administrator, Sean Duffy.”
NASA has not issued a direct rebuttal but cited a funding lapse as the reason for the delayed updates. As per an October 1 NASA Science report, the agency stated:
“There has been a lapse in funding … civil servant points of contact … will be unable to respond.”
What the Data Actually Shows
Meanwhile, ESA released faint detections from ExoMars CaSSIS and Mars Express, with ESA scientist Nick Thomas noting:
“This was a very challenging observation for the instrument. The comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times fainter than our usual target.”
NASA’s August 25 report stressed that 31/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth, reaffirming its natural composition. Hubble’s image showed a teardrop-shaped dust coma, typical of cometary outgassing. The JWST spectra confirmed a CO₂-rich coma, while ESO’s Very Large Telescope detected faint traces of nickel and iron, similar to other active comets.
