Blog Archive

All asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft as of November 2010

Soliciting input for an idea on slides

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/11/05 07:09 CST | 19 comments

I'm directing a question at professional and amateur space scientists and educators: could I make slide sets that would help you educate the public about what's going on in planetary exploration?

Preliminary version of Curiosity sol 84 self-portrait processed by Stuart Atkinson

Getting up to speed with Curiosity as of sol 84, and two awesome mosaics

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/31 07:39 CDT | 6 comments

Curiosity has already spent more than three weeks at Rocknest, working through the very slow process of commissioning the sample handling systems. While parked, she's taken a couple of amazing photo mosaics.

Dawn journal: scary-good ion propulsion

Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/10/31 12:34 CDT

Dawn continues to raise its orbit en route to its 2015 date with Ceres. Also, Marc prepares his high-energy Halloween costume.

Cosmoquest Astronomy Hour, Wednesday: What's up with Curiosity on Mars

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/09 03:45 CDT | 2 comments

It's becoming a biweekly thing -- join me, Fraser Cain, and now Casey Dreier for an update on Curiosity and a chance for you to get your Curiosity questions answered! The Google+ Hangout is on Wednesday, October 10, at 16:00 PDT / 23:00 UTC.

Mangalyaan update: Testing of main engine underway

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/09 11:25 CDT | 1 comments

A report in the Times of India states that India's Mars mission's main engine is now being tested.

SpaceX's first paid cargo run off to bumpy start

Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/10/08 11:03 CDT | 7 comments

SpaceX successfully sent their first paid Dragon capsule towards the International Space Station Sunday night. But the bigger story happened on the way to orbit.