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The Planetary Society Blog
Archive
Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.
Dec. 9, 2010 | 11:03 PST | 19:03 UTC
Akatsuki update, two days later
I've got two more pieces of information to share on Akatsuki further to what I posted yesterday. The first one is a worrying detail about what went wrong during orbit insertion. There was a plot released during the December 8 press briefings that... More»
Dec. 8, 2010 | 16:03 PST | Dec. 9 00:03 UTC
Door 8 in the 2010 advent calendar
Time to open the eighth door in the advent calendar. Until the New Year, I'll be opening a door onto a different landscape from somewhere in the solar system. Where in the solar system is this nearly flat plain? Click to enlarge >Triton's surfaceThe... More»
Dec. 8, 2010 | 11:07 PST | 19:07 UTC
SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 9; orbits, returns Dragon capsule
EDIT 3:30 pm: added a cool parachute pic to the bottom!
"Falcon 9 nailed it!" said Bill Nye said this morning, congratulating SpaceX on what has looked like a flawless launch, orbit, and return of the Dragon capsule aboard its Falcon 9 rocket. ... More»
Dec. 8, 2010 | 10:45 PST | 18:45 UTC
Akatsuki update, a day after the failure to enter orbit
JAXA held two press briefings about Akatsuki yesterday, at 11:00 and 20:30 JST (02:00 and 11:30 UTC). Reports in both English and Japanese based on these press briefings have cleared up some, but not all, of the mystery about what happened and what... More»
Dec. 8, 2010 | 09:50 PST | 17:50 UTC
Book reviews: Killing Pluto; Stars Above; Jars to Stars
I meant to get these posted weeks ago, along with my reviews of kids' space books, but better late than never! Following are reviews of four books that might make good gifts for the space and science fans in your life.
How I Killed Pluto and Why... More»
Dec. 7, 2010 | 18:15 PST | Dec. 8 02:15 UTC
Akatsuki has failed to enter Venus orbit
There is a press briefing happening right now in Japan, and it's terrible news: Akatsuki failed to enter Venus orbit, nor will it be able to enter Venus orbit -- at least, not for at least 7 years, which is the next time it'll be back near Venus. ... More»
Dec. 7, 2010 | 11:56 PST | 19:56 UTC
Door 7 in the 2010 advent calendar
Time to open the seventh door in the advent calendar. Until the New Year, I'll be opening a door onto a different landscape from somewhere in the solar system. Where in the solar system is this icy bridge? Click to enlarge >Door 7The full image... More»
Dec. 7, 2010 | 10:29 PST | 18:29 UTC
Dawn Journal: Attitude Adjustment
Here's our monthly checkup with the Dawn mission, contributed by Marc Rayman, the mission's Project System Engineer. I apologize for my lateness in posting it -- it got lost in the Thanksgiving shuffle. Thanks as usual to Marc! As of today, 221... More»
Dec. 7, 2010 | 10:01 PST | 18:01 UTC
Akatsuki update: safe mode, still talking to Earth, but slowly
A press release (PDF) was posted in Japanese on the Akatsuki website this morning with some official information on the mission status. Here is a translation of the text, with help from Kay Previsich and from sei_n, natsu_shigure, and hee913758 on... More»
Dec. 6, 2010 | 20:07 PST | Dec. 7 04:07 UTC
Something has not gone right with Akatsuki, but they have communications
I was unable to follow Akatsuki's entry into Venus orbit in real time due to family obligations. Checking in now, about four hours after it was to have entered orbit, it seems that something did not go correctly, but not much information is... More»
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