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Curiosity sol 3: First Mastcam color thumbnails down, everything "flawless," "nominal"
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/09 03:25 CDT | 13 comments
Curiosity's third day on Mars has been completed flawlessly, and the first preliminary color view from her Mastcam is lovely.
Curiosity sol 1 and planned activities for the next few sols
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/07 04:29 CDT | 11 comments
A look at the current status of Curiosity at the beginning of sol 2, and what activities to look forward to over the next few sols.
Curiosity: Notes from the two day-after-landing press briefings
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/06 07:43 CDT | 7 comments
Notes on Curiosity's physical state, future activities, landing site, and other stuff gleaned from the two press briefings conducted at JPL today.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/06 05:19 CDT | 13 comments
Somehow, it worked. Curiosity has landed on Mars, returning photos of her wheels and her shadow on a flat, pebbled plain.
Curiosity: Landing minus 11 hours
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/05 01:30 CDT
The Curiosity mission's final pre-landing press briefing wrapped up a short while ago. There wasn't much in the way of news, which is a good thing. Curiosity is healthy. Odyssey is healthy. There's not much left to do but wait.
Curiosity landing minus two days
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/08/04 01:17 CDT | 1 comments
I just came out of a press briefing at JPL, on the morning of the day before Curiosity's landing. The panel seemed fairly calm -- anxious, certainly, but the happy kind of anxiety that precedes something that could be great.
What's up in the Solar System in August 2012
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/08/03 06:03 CDT
Welcome to the monthly roundup of our solar system's envoy of electronic explorers! All eyes are on Curiosity as it approaches Mars this weekend. Who will lend support at the Red Planet?
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Works on a Whim, Team to Stand Down for Curiosity
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2012/08/03 02:29 CDT | 1 comments
Opportunity roved on to new targets near the rim of Endeavour Crater in July, as the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) team prepared to stand down for the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity
Pretty Panoramas: Opportunity at Whim Creek
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/30 01:11 CDT | 2 comments
I know it’s been all Curiosity, all the time on this blog for the last couple of weeks, and that’s not likely to change much for the next couple of weeks. But I don’t want people to forget that there’s another rover exploring Mars’ ancient geology. Opportunity has been taking spectacular photos of Whim Creek and Endeavour Crater this last week.
Dawn journal: The long, slow goodbye
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/07/26 12:40 CDT | 1 comments
Dawn has completed the final intensive phase of its exploration of Vesta, and it has now begun its gradual departure for Ceres.
When will we see Curiosity's first images?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/23 03:37 CDT | 5 comments
Enough people have asked me when we'll see Curiosity's first images from the surface of Mars that I sought out an answer. The short version: it depends.
Checking in on NASA's Space Launch System
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/07/11 01:32 CDT | 6 comments
Work continues on the Space Launch System, NASA's next-generation deep space vehicle slated to take humans beyond Earth for the first time since 1972.
Dawn journal: seeing Vesta in a new light
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/07/06 02:33 CDT | 1 comments
Once again Dawn is diligently mapping Vesta, circling the ancient protoplanet about twice a day, observing the signatures of Vesta's tortured history.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Digs Cape York, Roves to New Milestone
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2012/07/04 01:57 CDT | 3 comments
Even robots deserve a break once in a while, and when the Mars Odyssey orbiter went into safe mode in June, Opportunity got the chance to hang out and leisurely take in her surroundings at the Red Planet, while the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission downshifted into lower gear.
Posted by Stuart Atkinson on 2012/07/02 11:18 CDT
Earlier today, unnoticed by the vast majority of the world, Opportunity reached and then silently passed a major milestone in her great adventure on Mars. At just before 3am, UK time, Opportunity began her 3000th sol, or martian day, on Mars.
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.
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/06/16 12:08 CDT | 1 comments
China’s fourth human spaceflight mission got underway this morning after a Long March 2F rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 10:37 UTC.
Update on yesterday's post about Chang'E 2 going to Toutatis
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/15 11:29 CDT | 3 comments
I have a couple of updates on my post from yesterday: confirmation that Chang'E 2 is indeed gone from L2, and more specifics on encounter dates with Toutatis.
Chang'E 2 has departed Earth's neighborhood for.....asteroid Toutatis!?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/14 07:53 CDT | 1 comments
According to a Chinese spaceflight forum, Chang'E program chief scientist Ouyang Ziyuan recently announced that Chang'E 2 has departed the Sun-Earth L2 point and is now en route to asteroid 4179 Toutatis!
China readies three taikonauts for station visit
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/06/13 11:05 CDT | 1 comments
The stage is set for China’s space program to make history this weekend, as it prepares to send three taikonauts to visit Tiangong-1, the country’s first space station.
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