Blogs
Blog Archive
What's up in the solar system in April 2012
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/03/30 02:27 CDT
Welcome to my monthly roundup of the activities of our intrepid robotic emissaries across the solar system! I count 16 spacecraft that are actively performing 13 scientific missions at Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, Vesta, Saturn, and at the edge of the heliosphere.
Dawn Journal: Saluting the Sun
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/03/29 05:19 CDT
On April 18, Dawn will attain its greatest separation yet from Earth, nearly 520 million kilometers (323 million miles) or more than 3.47 astronomical units (AU). Well beyond Mars, fewer than a dozen spacecraft have ever operated so far from Earth. At this extraordinary range, Dawn will be nearly 1,400 times farther than the average distance to the Moon (and 1,300 times farther than the greatest distance attained by Apollo astronauts 42 years ago). The deep-space ship will be well over one million times farther from Earth than the International Space Station and Tiangong-1.
What's up in the solar system in March 2012
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/03/27 02:53 CDT
This month will see GRAIL begin its science mission measuring the Moon's gravity field. MESSENGER will complete its primary mission at Mercury, celebrating its one-Earth-year-in-orbit anniversary with a big data release, and immediately begin work on its one-year extended mission. Mars will pass its solstice, ushering in warmer days for Opportunity. Coincidentally, this month will see Jupiter's southern winter solstice, too, though there are no spacecraft there to notice it. Out at Saturn, Cassini will have two encounters with Enceladus this month, one of them distant, one of them at 74 kilometers altitude.
Venus Express star trackers recovered
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/03/09 07:18 CST
Just a quick note because I didn't want to let the weekend go by without telling people that Venus Express' star trackers are back online.
Good news, bad news: GRAIL science underway, Venus Express suffers storm damage
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/03/08 06:54 CST
Two brief mission updates. First, the good news: NASA announced yesterday that the twin GRAIL spacecraft have begun the science phase of the mission, transmitting precisely timed signals to each other in order to map the Moon's gravity field. The bad news: according to ESA, since the recent solar storm passed Venus, both of Venus Express' star trackers are suddenly unable to detect stars.
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2012/02/29 10:24 CST
There's no hail or snow or sleet, though it is the depth of winter at Meridiani Planum and a cold unimaginable to us has gripped the landscape.
Dawn Journal: Bonus time at low altitude
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/02/29 02:43 CST
Dawn is continuing its exploits at Vesta, performing detailed studies of the colossal asteroid from its low altitude mapping orbit (LAMO).
BepiColombo's launch date has slipped to August 2015
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/02/29 08:55 CST
ESA announced this morning that the launch of their BepiColombo mission, a cooperative effort with JAXA, has been delayed from its originally planned July 2014 to the backup launch window in August 2015.
Phobos-Grunt Failure Report Released
Posted by Louis D. Friedman on 2012/02/06 05:24 CST
It appears that Phobos-Grunt was doomed before it launched on November 9, 2011. Cheap parts, design shortcomings, and lack of pre-flight testing ensured that the spacecraft would never fulfill its goals.
Yay for Juno! First major course correction complete
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/02/02 03:33 CST
JPL issued a news note today that the Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft has successfully completed the first of twelve trajectory correction maneuvers it'll perform between launch last year and Jupiter arrival in 2016. Its next maneuver will take place in August of this year. Go Juno!
What's up in the solar system in February 2012
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/31 01:12 CST | 1 comments
What's up in the solar system in February 2012
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Celebrates 8, Keeps on Rockin' into Year 9
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2012/01/31 10:24 CST
As Opportunity worked away on its winter science campaign, the Mars Exploration Rover mission quietly completed its eighth Earth year of exploring the surface of the Red Planet last week, and is now roving on into Year 9 of its 90-day mission.
Dawn Journal: How does Dawn know where "down" is?
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/01/30 01:23 CST
Dawn Journal: How does Dawn know where "down" is?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/23 05:32 CST
Today Opportunity sent back to Earth the last few frames of the "deck pan" self-portrait she took during the waning days of 2011. Her solar panels are very dusty, which isn't helpful. It's near winter solstice in her southern location on Mars, so the angled Sun is not providing as much power as it would in a different season.
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2012/01/13 10:35 CST
We explore space for the noblest goals of science and exploration, and we often persevere in spite of challenges. But space exploration is fraught with bad things happening, or, to use the technical term, ouchies. The Planetary Society's Phobos LIFE biomodule will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in the next few days with the rest of the Phobos-Grunt mission.
The state of Earth observation, January 2012
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/01/09 05:54 CST
As of November 2011, the Earth Observing Handbook counts 109 active missions to study the Earth as a planet, with 112 more approved and planned for the future. Jason Davis provides an overview of key current and upcoming earth-observing missions.
Dawn Journal: The Om of orbit adjustment
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/01/09 03:53 CST
The Dawn mission's Project System Engineer Marc Rayman reports that Dawn concluded 2011 more than 40 thousand times nearer to Vesta than it began the year. It is now at its lowest altitude of the mission, conducting a detailed exploration of the protoplanet and continuing to make new discoveries.
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2011/12/31 10:24 CST
As New Year's Eve moved from time zone to time zone across planet Earth, the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) team looked to 2012 and wrapping its eighth Earth year of exploring, while up on the Red Planet Opportunity settled into the "saddle" at Greeley Haven preparing for the onslaught of its fifth Martian winter.
What's up in the solar system in January 2012, and the rest of the year
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/12/29 05:57 CST
There will be no planetary launches in 2012, but there is still plenty of deep-space activity to look forward to over the coming year.
Ringing in the New Year with two new arrivals to the Moon
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/12/28 05:21 CST
The twin GRAIL spacecraft are nearly at the end of their three-month cruises to the Moon. Currently being discussed is an extended mission for GRAIL that would begin after the June eclipse and last through most of December 2012.
Connect With Us
Facebook! Twitter! Google+ and more…
Continue the conversation with our online community!
