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The Planetary Society Blog
Archive
Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.
Nov. 29, 2011 | 14:57 PST | 22:57 UTC
What's up in the solar system in December 2011
What's going on with our planetary explorers in December? As 2011 closes and 2012 begins, the twin GRAIL spacecraft will enter orbit at the Moon, and will also be receiving new names, to be selected from hundreds of contest entries. There's a... More»
Nov. 29, 2011 | 08:35 PST | 16:35 UTC
Bye-bye, Curiosity
A few fortunate (and forward-thinking) skywatchers looked upward in the hours after Curiosity's launch and were able to see the spacecraft leaving Earth. For the skywatchers in Australia and east Asia, the spacecraft was close enough for viewers to... More»
Nov. 28, 2011 | 16:06 PST | Nov. 29 00:06 UTC
The 70-meter dishes of the Deep Space Network
I was inspired by my recent trip to Goldstone to put together this poster showing all three of the great 70-meter dishes of the Deep Space Network. There's one at each of the three complexes, at Goldstone, at Robledo (near Madrid, Spain), and at... More»
Nov. 28, 2011 | 14:07 PST | 22:07 UTC
How did they make the nuclear power source for the Curiosity rover?
Maybe it's because I was a kid during the Cold War; I always assume that information about anything nuclear only comes out on that "need-to-know basis." So it was a nice surprise to be pointed to this informative video about how it was built. It's... More»
Nov. 26, 2011 | 08:09 PST | 16:09 UTC
Curiosity is on its way to Mars!
It was a textbook launch for the Atlas V 541 today at 15:02 UTC, and within an hour after liftoff, the Centaur second stage had sent Curiosity on its way for an 8.5-month journey to Mars. (Says my older daughter: "Mars is close, if you go fast.")... More»
Nov. 23, 2011 | 12:25 PST | 20:25 UTC
How to watch Curiosity's launch
The next great Mars rover, Curiosity, is set to launch on Saturday, November 26, at 15:02 UTC. Here's how I plan to be watching, and a timeline of the main events to watch for on launch day. Unlike most of the other launches I've watched recently,... More»
Nov. 23, 2011 | 11:26 PST | 19:26 UTC
Mars Exploration Family Portrait
Jason Davis put together this neat summary of the checkered history of Mars exploration. I especially like how he's cut out all the spacecraft, and how the cruise configurations of the landed missions are included in the circle surrounding Mars. ... More»
Nov. 23, 2011 | 10:29 PST | 18:29 UTC
Brief contact made with Phobos-Grunt after two weeks of silence
UPDATE 21:30 UT: RIA Novosti reports that ESA representative Rene Pishel stated that Perth successfully received telemetry from Phobos-Grunt and has forwarded the data on to Lavochkin for analysis. He also stated that the communications session... More»
Nov. 21, 2011 | 17:51 PST | Nov. 22 01:51 UTC
Curiosity in context: Not exactly "Viking on wheels," but close
As I was beginning my research for my two magazine articles on the Curiosity rover's upcoming mission to Mars, I needed to figure out for myself how exactly this gigantic, ungainly machine fit in to the context of past Martian missions. Clearly,... More»
Nov. 21, 2011 | 12:17 PST | 20:17 UTC
Guest Post by Jason Davis: SLS updates: tower crawl, engine burn and flight test
What's 100 meters tall, weighs 2500 tons, and sparks debates hotter than the exhaust from a recycled space shuttle main engine?
I'm talking about the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's behemoth next-generation rocket intended to carry humans beyond... More»
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