Answer: Yes, NASA makes its discoveries public, and no, there is no special approval before disclosing something new. The only places were controls are imposed is in technology that might have an impact on national security, but those are not in the area of basic science. Science is always made public, and discoveries come primarily from the scientific community, not the government. The feeling that ?NASA? or ?the government? makes discoveries and may not release them is one of the most widespread misunderstandings of how science works. Scientific discoveries are made by scientists. Some of these scientists work directly for the government, and many obtain grants from the government to support their work, but the majority are in academia. In the case of NASA, our founding legislation specifically states that science should be made public and that part of our role is in public education (which is what this website is all about). The conspiracy theories either do not recognize this or chose to ignore it when they accuse the government of hiding or suppressing scientific discoveries.
David Morrison
Astrobiology Senior Scientist
