Blogs
Blog Archive
Sampling Mars, Part 3: Key Challenges in Drilling for Samples
Posted by Daniel Limonadi on 2012/08/21 05:34 CDT
Continuing a multi-part guest blog series by Curiosity systems engineering team lead for the Surface Sampling and Science system. Part 3 explains why drilling is hard, and what the team is doing to prevent things from going wrong.
Sampling Mars, Part 2: Science Instruments SAM and Chemin
Posted by Daniel Limonadi on 2012/08/20 11:28 CDT | 5 comments
Continuing a multi-part guest blog series by Curiosity systems engineering team lead for the Surface Sampling and Science system. Part 2 explains the science instruments SAM and Chemin.
Sampling Mars, Part 1: The Hardware
Posted by Daniel Limonadi on 2012/08/16 02:08 CDT | 3 comments
The opening of a multi-part guest blog series by Curiosity systems engineering team lead for the Surface Sampling and Science system. Part 1 explains the robotic arm and the Sample Acquisition, Processing and Handling subsystem.
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/08/16 01:23 CDT | 5 comments
A new monthly series of Southern California Public Radio events begins with a look at how intelligent machines and virtual humans will change what it means to be a real human. Attend or watch the live webcast tonight, Thursday, August 16.
Curiosity's MAHLI camera: Much more than a microscopic imager
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/07 06:19 CDT | 3 comments
Today's press briefing featured the first image from MAHLI, the Mars Hand Lens Imager, so it's time for me to dive in to this camera's capabilities.
Videos: Where are Curiosity's science instruments and how do they work?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/01 12:51 CDT | 2 comments
Mat Kaplan and I recently recorded a couple of videos giving a tour of the science instruments on the Curiosity Mars rover.
The Planetary Report, June 2012: Dark Skies?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/25 02:27 CDT
The June Solstice issue of our member magazine The Planetary Report is out! The feature article, by W. Scott Kardel of the International Dark-Sky Association, looks at the ecological, economic, and philosophical problem of light pollution. My inside-the-cover Snapshots from Space features image processing work by Gordan Ugarkovic. Bill Nye's Planetary Society Kids section shows you how to build your own MarsDial, and on its back page I share some weird and interesting facts about Mars' moons.
Curiosity's seventeenth camera: MARDI
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/20 02:21 CDT | 4 comments
Curiosity is equipped with seventeen cameras. One of them, the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) will capture a movie as the rover descends to the surface.
Got questions about Curiosity? I've got answers for you
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/19 02:35 CDT | 18 comments
Whether you are a scientist or a layman, if you have ever asked yourself any question about Curiosity, I strongly suggest that you read the newly published press kit!
How Curiosity Will Land on Mars, Part 3: Skycrane and landing
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/06 07:01 CDT | 6 comments
The final phase of Curiosity's landing on Mars involves the "skycrane maneuver" and will leave the rover on its wheels ready for its mission on Mars to begin.
How Curiosity Will Land on Mars, Part 2: Descent
staff-blog-post
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/29 07:04 CDT | 6 comments
When people first hear about how Curiosity will land on Mars, their first question always is: are they nuts? This is the second in a multi-part series describing how -- and why -- Curiosity will land this way, in excruciating detail.
How Curiosity Will Land on Mars, Part 1: Entry
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/22 07:19 CDT | 14 comments
When people first hear about how Curiosity will land on Mars, their first question always is: are they nuts? This is the first in a multi-part series describing how -- and why -- Curiosity will land this way, in excruciating detail.
Cosmoquest Science Hangout Wednesday June 20 2300 UTC: Ravi Prakash, Curiosity engineer
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/18 05:32 CDT | 1 comments
This Cosmoquest Science Hangout featured Ravi Prakash, Curiosity Entry, Descent, and Landing Systems Engineer. He explained how Curiosity will land on Mars, and why they've changed things since Spirit and Opportunity landed.
In which I visit Mojave Spaceport and meet WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/05/29 11:51 CDT | 4 comments
It was just a coincidence, but a cool one, that I got a chance to visit the Mojave Spaceport so soon after the dramatic "New Space" success of the launch and Space Station docking of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Dragon. My host was Will Pomerantz. Bill Nye, Mat Kaplan, and I visited The Spaceship Company and Scaled Composites, where they are building the next SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo craft.
Virtual Exploration, Virtually Everywhere
Posted by Jim Bell on 2012/05/14 10:45 CDT
I had the pleasure of participating in a symposium at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center called "Space Exploration via Telepresence: A New Paradigm for Human-Robotic Cooperation."
Examining India's new RISAT 1 Earth observation satellite
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/05/02 12:03 CDT | 1 comments
Last week, India launched RISAT 1, a new Earth-observing satellite. How does its synthetic aperture radar compare to that of Envisat, which has fallen silent?
Planets around Alpha Centauri?
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2012/04/24 12:03 CDT | 2 comments
Do planets circle our closest stellar neighbors, the system loved by science fiction: Alpha Centauri? We don’t know. But, Debra Fischer, Julien Spronck, and their colleagues at Yale University, in part with Planetary Society support, are trying to find out.
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2012/04/19 11:00 CDT | 7 comments
With the latest piece of the puzzle just published in a scientific journal, a solar system mystery that has perplexed people for more than 20 years has been solved, truly thanks to the support of Planetary Society members.
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/04/11 12:29 CDT
A classified U.S. military satellite recently launched into an orbital inclination of 123 degrees. What makes this trajectory so unique? Pondering the answer affords the opportunity to learn some deceptively tricky concepts about the nature of all spacecraft orbits.
Visiting a Solar Sail in the OC
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/03/16 06:33 CDT
The city of Tustin is about an hour's drive from Planetary Society HQ in Pasadena. That's when the freeway gods are kind, which they never are. The trip I made there yesterday was well worth the trouble.
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