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Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/09/05 07:20 CDT | 1 comments
I glean all the important facts about NASA's next Moon mission from their prelaunch press kit. Launch is scheduled for September 6, 2013 at 8:27 p.m. PDT (September 7 at 03:27 UTC).
Curiosity update: AutoNav toward Mount Sharp, sols 373-383
Posted by Ken Herkenhoff on 2013/09/05 02:49 CDT
From sols 373 to 383 (August 23 to September 3, 2013), Curiosity traveled about 250 meters toward Mount Sharp over five drives, trying out her new AutoNav capability.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Begins Science at Base of Solander
Sols 3385 - 3414
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/09/04 04:08 CDT | 1 comments
There wasn't a dull moment for the Mars Exploration Rover mission in August as Opportunity drove up to the base of the Solander Point section Endeavour Crater's eroded rim, crossed over a geological boundary between ancient eras, maneuvered through a boulder field, scooting unscathed from a near-miss with a rock that could have ended it all, and at month's end delivered her team to what looks to be another scientific gemstone on the Red Planet.
Deep Impact in trouble: last heard from August 8
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/09/04 01:10 CDT
Communication with the Deep Impact spacecraft was lost some time between August 11 and August 14. The team has determined the cause of the problem, and is trying to figure out how to restore communication.
Dawn journal: Distant interplanetary adventurer
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2013/08/30 04:28 CDT | 1 comments
Traveling confidently and alone, Dawn continues to make its way through the silent depths of the main asteroid belt. The interplanetary adventurer is on its long journey to the uncharted dwarf planet Ceres, by far the largest of all asteroids.
Chang'e 3 proceeding toward December 1 launch
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/28 11:02 CDT | 2 comments
News agencies are reporting that China's soft lunar lander and rover, Chang'e 3, has passed its final critical reviews and is now proceeding toward launch.
New Horizons: Late in Cruise, and a Binary Ahoy
Posted by Alan Stern on 2013/08/24 09:16 CDT | 2 comments
New Horizons has just completed a summer of intensive activities and entered hibernation on Aug. 20. The routine parts of the activities included thorough checkouts of all our backup systems (result: they work fine!) and of all our scientific instruments (they work fine too!).
Updates on Curiosity from Ken Herkenhoff: Embarking for Mount Sharp (sols 326-372)
Posted by Ken Herkenhoff on 2013/08/23 12:07 CDT | 1 comments
United States Geological Survey scientist Ken Herkenhoff posts regular updates on the Curiosity science team's plans for the rover on Mars.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/22 07:02 CDT | 3 comments
LADEE's launch window opens two weeks from today, on September 6. The brief little mission aims to study the lunar atmosphere and dust environment before future soft landings disturb its currently pristine state.
Photo gallery: MAVEN being prepped for launch
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/21 04:56 CDT | 2 comments
Watching MAVEN go through its final launch preparations via the photo gallery at the Kennedy Media Archive.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3397 - August 13, 2013
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2013/08/18 11:06 CDT | 1 comments
Opportunity arrived at the base of the next segment of the Endeavour crater rim and is now investigating the contact.
SMAP Under Construction: Field trip to the Spacecraft Assembly Facility
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/14 04:53 CDT | 1 comments
Yesterday I enjoyed my second-ever opportunity to suit up and enter the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On display were SMAP, an Earth orbiting radar mission, and ISS-RapidScat, which will perform a different radar experiment from the Space Station.
Interplanetary eyes on the lookout for comet ISON
Posted by Daniel Fischer on 2013/08/09 02:15 CDT
Space blogger Daniel Fischer provides a preview of the exciting interplanetary observing campaign that has recently begun to study comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) from vantage points across the solar system.
Curiosity's first year on Mars: Where's the science?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/07 02:53 CDT | 31 comments
Yesterday was the first anniversary of Curiosity's landing on Mars, and there was much rejoicing. It's been fun to look back at that exciting day, and it's been an opportunity to reflect on what Curiosity has accomplished in her first year. What science do we have to show for it?
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3385 - August 2, 2013
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2013/08/06 06:54 CDT
This week Opportunity finished up a quick investigation of the strange rocky terrain out here in the plains where it is approaching the next mountain rim segment of Endeavour crater, Solander Point.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Celebrates Milestones, Arrives at Solander Suburb
Sols 3355 - 3384
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/08/05 03:44 CDT | 1 comments
The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission Opportunity celebrated the 10th anniversary of its launch on July 7, 2003, and then went on to complete the last leg of its 2 km trek from Cape York to Solander Point. But just before the robot field geologist pulled onto the actual base of the ridge where it will spend its sixth Martian winter, Mars lured the team off the path with some of the weirdest Martian rocks the scientists have seen yet.
Keeping up with Curiosity, almost a year after landing
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/01 06:16 CDT | 4 comments
It seems like my attention wandered for just a moment, and all of a sudden Curiosity is really on the road. She's racked up drive after drive, methodically eating up the terrain between here and her goal: the ancient rocks at the foot of Mount Sharp.
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2013/07/30 01:12 CDT | 5 comments
Ion propulsion is not a source of power for Dawn. Rather, the craft needs a great deal of power to operate its ion propulsion system and all other systems. It needs so much that...we crave power!!
The road to Mars: updates on NASA's MAVEN and India's Mars Orbiter Mission
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/07/29 08:00 CDT | 3 comments
The 2013 launch window for Mars is fast approaching. November represents the next chance to send spacecraft to the Red Planet; the next window doesn't open until early 2016. So NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are working hard to prepare their respective Mars missions for launch.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3378 - July 25, 2013
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2013/07/26 12:32 CDT
We are now only about 180 meters from the new mountain, Solander Point. We slowed down this week so that we could check out the rocks here where there is a strange hydration signature from orbital remote sensing.
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