Blog Archive

Designing the Cassini Tour

Posted by John Smith on 2009/06/07 12:01 CDT

Each Titan flyby is not a fork in the road, but rather a Los Angeles style cloverleaf in terms of the dizzying number of possible destinations. So how did our current and future plans for the path of the Cassini spacecraft come to be? That's the question Dave Seal put to me since that's my job -- I am a tour designer.

Canto II: Titan's Atmosphere and the Solar Cycle

Posted by David Seal on 2009/06/03 04:44 CDT

David Seal explains the complications for Cassini coming from Titan's atmosphere and Solar Cycle.

Connections

Posted by David Seal on 2009/06/02 01:58 CDT

David Seal muses on his time as the mission planner for Cassini, and the history behind its name, and astronomy in Rome.

A mosaic of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera images covering all of Gale crater. The whole crater is about 150 kilometers in diameter. Curiosity will be aiming for a spot inside Gale near the northern rim and will drive toward the five-kilomet

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

A Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX) image of most of a 44-kilometer-diameter crater within Tempe Terra. The crater includes numerous examples of inverted topography.

Mars: "Follow the Water" Is Not Dead

Posted by Ken Edgett on 2009/05/26 11:53 CDT

Mars: "Follow the Water" Is Not Dead

Ever Plan Ahead? How About Six Years Ahead?

Posted by Alan Stern on 2009/05/19 07:05 CDT

Despite still being more than six years and just over 18 Astronomical Units from the Pluto system, the project team for New Horizons is conducting the second and final portion of our Pluto Encounter Preliminary Design Review (EPDR) tomorrow and the next day.