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The Planetary Society Blog
Archive
Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.
Jan. 25, 2012 | 11:10 PST | 19:10 UTC
Geek craft: GRAIL twins Ebb and Flow in plastic canvas
Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that after beginning with Dawn last week, I've kept my fingers busy, stitching more spacecraft from plastic canvas. I now have prototypes for GRAIL, New Horizons, and MESSENGER (though I'm not completely... More»
Jan. 24, 2012 | 14:51 PST | 22:51 UTC
At last: Rosetta's Mars flyby photos have been released!
On February 24, 2007, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft passed by Mars, the second of four planetary gravity-assist flybys on its long route to a 2014 rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At the time, they released two photos... More»
Jan. 23, 2012 | 16:32 PST | Jan. 24 00:32 UTC
Dusty girl
Today Opportunity sent back to Earth the last few frames of the "deck pan" self-portrait she took during the waning days of 2011. Her solar panels are very dusty, which isn't helpful. It's near winter solstice in her southern location on Mars, so... More»
Jan. 23, 2012 | 11:56 PST | 19:56 UTC
Is there life on Venus? Not in reprocessed Venera-13 images.
At the end of last week, a rather sensational article appeared in both the Russian- and English-language sites of the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti. "Life Spotted on Venus - Russian Scientist," ran the English headline; a Google translation of... More»
Jan. 20, 2012 | 17:32 PST | Jan. 21 01:32 UTC
Stephen Hawking's Curios
By Charlene Anderson
Catching up on my blog reading today, I turned to "Cosmic Log," science writer Alan Boyle's must-read column on msnbc.com. Today's entry is titled "Stephen Hawking's curios explained." To celebrate Hawking's 70th birthday, the... More»
Jan. 20, 2012 | 09:42 PST | 17:42 UTC
Blast from the past: The Galileo Messenger
It's impossible to avoid a foreboding feeling when reading the early newsletters that came out of the Galileo project. Undoubtedly, Galileo transformed our understanding of Jupiter and especially its moons, revealing Europa and Ganymede to be... More»
Jan. 19, 2012 | 14:12 PST | 22:12 UTC
Watch this week's Google+ Space Hangout
Fraser Cain has organized a weekly Space Hangout that happens at 1800 UTC on Thursdays, and kindly invited me to participate. This week's lineup included me as well as Nancy Atkinson, Pamela Gay, Nicole Gugliucci, Phil Plait, Alan Boyle, and Jon... More»
Jan. 19, 2012 | 12:18 PST | 20:18 UTC
Guest Post: Jason Davis: The state of Earth observation, January 2012
We're being watched by an army of Earth-observing satellites.
Some zip above the world's cities at high noon, creating global maps bathed in perpetual sunlight. Others hang in eerie suspension over the equator, blinking at regular intervals to... More»
Jan. 19, 2012 | 09:50 PST | 17:50 UTC
Weekly Google+ Hangout Starting Shortly
Tune in soon (in 10 minutes, as I post this) to Fraser Cain's Google+ page for the weekly Space Hangout. I'll be participating, as will Fraser Cain, Phil Plait, Pamela Gay, Alan Boyle, and the usual cast! If you can't tune in live, don't fret; I'll... More»
Jan. 17, 2012 | 13:04 PST | 21:04 UTC
The Dawn spacecraft, modeled in an unlikely medium
Last week when I joined the new weekly Space Hangout (a webcast video conference call of sorts), I realized I would need a 3D model of Dawn in order to explain what's going on with the mission right now. I quickly folded a little paper box and... More»
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