3I/ATLAS catches attention of US lawmakers; Republican lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna makes big demands from NASA; check here

The growing suspense around 3I/ATLAS, the third ever interstellar comet recorded in our solar system, has now caught the attention of US politicians after keeping the scientists intrigued for months. The comet, which is from outside the solar system, was discovered by NASA’s ATLAS telescope on July 1, 2025.

Days after Harvard scientist and astrophysicist Avi Loeb demanded “the best image” of the comet which according to him were obtained on October 2, 2025,” from the principal investigator of HiRISE, Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna called on the American space agency to share its unreleased data and images to “advance our understanding.”

In a post on X, the 36-year-old Florida rep shared a post of her letter, which was addressed to acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy. “I write to request the release of specific observational data related to 3I/ATLAS, recently captured by NASA missions,” Luna wrote. “This information is of great importance to advancing our understanding of interstellar visitors and their interaction with our solar system.”





This comes as the Manhattan-sized object exhibited signs of non-gravitational acceleration and appeared “bluer than the sun.” Following these observations, Loeb speculated that there is a 40% chance the comet is alien technology and he had also said that the non-gravitational acceleration of the comet might be due to an internal engine that is driving it.

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In her letter, the lawmaker specifically urged the space agency to release the images that the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped between October 2-3.

Besides the imagesm, she also asked for “supplementary data” from the spacecraft in question, the Perseverance Rover, and “other Mars missions that may have detected unusual activity near Mars around or after October 3, 2025, when 3I/ATLAS passed within approximately 30 million kilometers (18.6 million miles) of the planet.”