Blog Archive

Having some fun with Curiosity's pretty face (plus, a conversation about Curiosity with a 4-year-old)

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/04/08 12:03 CDT

The photo I took of Curiosity's "face" and posted on Monday seems to have tickled a lot of people. I understand it's the subject of a "Photoshop this Mars rover" challenge at Fark, and a couple of the guys over at unmannedspaceflight.com have been having a field day with it.

Face-to-face with Curiosity

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/04/04 04:54 CDT

I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity today for a face-to-face visit with one of the biggest celebrities in my world: Curiosity, the next Mars rover. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory gave members of the media a chance to suit up in the white coveralls known as "bunny suits" and enter the Spacecraft Assembly Facility, the clean room in which Curiosity is being assembled and prepared for launch.

A zoomable MastCam is not going to make it to Mars

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/03/23 05:05 CDT

I hate being the bearer of bad news, but here it is. Amid all the building excitement for Curiosity -- the successes in testing, the delivery of the instruments, the fun of tuning in to Curiosity Cam to peek in on engineers doing their work in preparing the next rover for launch -- I've learned that a much-anticipated (but not required) feature is not going to make it on to the rover.

Neat video of Curiosity drive testing (plus a code-cracking challenge)

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/03/21 01:37 CDT

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has posted a short video showing some recent testing of an engineering model of the Mars Science Laboratory in their outdoor Mars Yard; they're testing the performance of the rover's driving capability over slopes of varying steepness and covered with bedrock, compacted sand, and very loose sand.

365 Days of Astronomy Podcast: Unmanned Space Exploration in 2011

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/01/12 10:32 CST

Today the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast aired my contribution, Unmanned Space Exploration in 2011, about what to look forward to in solar system exploration this year.

Water and the Curiosity Landing Site Candidates

Posted by Ken Edgett on 2009/05/28 10:09 CDT | 2 comments

Water and the Curiosity Landing Site Candidates

Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki (PLANET-C)

Exciting Times Ahead: 2010 Will Sizzle, and 2011 Will Really Cook!

Posted by Alan Stern on 2009/05/18 03:56 CDT

Today, I'm kicking the week off with a look at the unusually intense confluence of far flung planetary exploration that's just around the corner, starting the middle of next year.

No descent images or sounds from Phoenix

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2007/11/15 11:05 CST

No descent images or sounds from Phoenix

Mars Science Laboratory is going to be HUGE

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2007/06/20 11:11 CDT

Yesterday I deposited the baby with her grandmother and went to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a press junket to the opening of their new Mars Yard.