Blogs
Blog Archive
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Roves to Solander West, into Winter Campground
Sols 3415 - 3444
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/10/07 07:06 CDT
The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission stepped up preparations for the coming Martian winter in September as Opportunity rounded the northern tip of Solander Point and drove into what will be her campground at Endeavour Crater for the next six months or so. It's been nearly a year in the planning. Now, from the rover's first look around, this winter could turn out to be one for the books.
Announcement for DPS 2013: New plan for "Agency Night" features...me!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/07 05:58 CDT
I'll be representing The Planetary Society on a quickly-replanned panel at tomorrow's Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Agency Night, in the absence of any representatives from federal funding agencies.
DPS 2013: Some quick updates on Mercury
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/07 04:51 CDT
Some notes from the first day of the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting on Mercury.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/10/07 12:42 CDT | 1 comments
Twelve years on, Mars Odyssey just keeps sending great images.
Gaia Prepares for Ultimate Galactic Census
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/10/06 10:42 CDT | 2 comments
The European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft is set to embark on a five-year, billion-star census next month.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/06 02:51 CDT | 5 comments
It's so exciting when the small talk that lubricates social interactions with strangers turns into an excited discussion of space and science.
Congratulations to LADEE on arrival at the Moon!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/06 08:33 CDT | 2 comments
After a one-month journey from Earth to the Moon, NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) safely entered orbit at 10:57 UTC today, October 6.
Photos: India's Mars Orbiter Mission arrives at launch site
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/05 02:39 CDT
ISRO posted five photos from the momentous day of the Mars Orbiter Mission's shipment to Sriharikota.
On space kindness and the Chelyabinsk meteor
Posted by Vitaliy Egorov on 2013/10/04 07:04 CDT | 1 comments
Through an act of kindness, we now have images of the Chelyabinsk meteor trail from Russia's Elektro-L satellite.
Government shutdown closes 3 of 4 National Radio Astronomy Observatories
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/04 06:38 CDT | 3 comments
The shutdown of the federal government continues to claim casualties. Today, the Green Bank Telescope, Very Large Array, and Very Long Baseline Arrays all shut their doors, blinding us to the radio sky and scuttling long-term research projects.
The 45th Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, Oct 6-11, 2013
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/04 03:21 CDT
The annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society begins on Sunday and runs for a week in Denver, Colorado. I'll be attending all week, bringing you the latest news from across the solar system.
Google+ Hangout with ESA about Europe's Mars exploration
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/04 09:00 CDT
The European Space Agency invited me to join Mars Express project scientist Olivier Witasse, and spacecraft oeprations manager Michel Denis for a Hangout on Europe's recent and future exploration of Mars and Phobos.
NASA's MAVEN Mission Spared from Shutdown
Launch preparations will resume
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/10/03 04:40 CDT | 3 comments
Launch preparations will resume for NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, due to launch to Mars on November 18th. Work had previously been suspended, potentially causing the spacecraft to miss its once-every-26-month launch opportunity.
Super cool Phobos and Deimos animations from Mars Express
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/03 02:17 CDT
I've been delving in to the Mars Express image archive this week, checking out its images of Phobos, and found a couple of really cool time-series of images to assemble into animations.
I cannot volunteer my time to work on NASA business during the furlough
Posted by Les Johnson on 2013/10/03 11:55 CDT | 7 comments
Today I received my furlough notice from NASA. Since my job isn’t considered “excepted,” in other words, since no one will be injured or die if I don’t report for work, then I am to remain at home until recalled to work after the Congress passes and the President signs some sort of budget or continuing resolution to keep the government running.
Yes, there seems to be a hole in Curiosity's left front wheel, and no, that's not a problem
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/02 11:22 CDT | 17 comments
Some brand-new images just arrived from Curiosity on Mars, and two of the most recent are Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) images of the wheels. Today's images contained two little surprises.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/02 02:39 CDT | 2 comments
When LADEE launched on September 6, it launched into Earth orbit. Today, it is finally on a path that will take it to its October 6 lunar orbit insertion. Its operation is continuing normally in the face of the U.S. government's shutdown yesterday, as is that of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter achieves imaging of comet ISON from Mars
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/02 12:03 CDT | 1 comments
Yesterday, the much-anticipated comet ISON made its closest pass by Mars. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera is the first to achieve a positive detection of the somewhat-fainter-than-expected comet in its photos.
On Gandhi's birthday, India ships Mars spacecraft to launch site
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/02 11:45 CDT
Several Indian news sites posted a press wire article this morning indicating that India's Mars Orbiter Mission departed its assembly and testing facility in Bangalore today and is now on the way to the coastal launch site, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, a journey of about 400 kilometers.
Origami Nanosats: The Future of Space Telescopes?
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/10/01 05:04 CDT | 1 comments
We interview Dr. Franck Marchis from the SETI Institute about nanosats that can unfold in space to create sensitive telescopes that are orders of magnitudes cheaper than current hardware.
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