Blogs
Blog Archive
GSA 2014: The puzzle of Gale crater's basaltic sedimentary rocks
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/23 07:31 CDT | 15 comments
At the Geological Society of America conference this week, Curiosity scientists dug into the geology of Gale crater and shared puzzling results about the nature of the rocks that the rover has found there.
UPDATED: China successfully launched test mission for Chang'e 5 program today
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/23 09:54 CDT | 2 comments
China launched to the Moon today! The spacecraft will have a brief, 8-day mission, out to the Moon and back. It is an engineering test for the technology that the future Chang'e 5 sample return mission will need to return its precious samples to Earth.
Herschel observations of Comet Siding Spring initiated by an amateur astronomer
Posted by Peter Mattisson on 2014/10/22 11:26 CDT | 4 comments
The European satellite Herschel acquired images of Comet Siding Spring before its death in 2013 — thanks to an observing proposal from an amateur astronomer!
When Good Rockets Go Bad: Orion's Launch Abort System
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/10/20 01:30 CDT | 8 comments
One of the tricky parts of launching humans into space is deciding what to do if something goes wrong. And that's where Orion's Launch Abort System comes in.
Status update: All Mars missions fine after Siding Spring flyby
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/20 12:07 CDT | 2 comments
All seven Mars spacecraft are doing perfectly fine after comet Siding Spring's close encounter with Mars.
Collaboration Between OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa-2
Posted by Dante Lauretta on 2014/10/20 10:35 CDT | 1 comments
The University of Arizona (UA) hosted representatives of the Hayabusa-2 asteroid sample return mission to explore opportunities for collaboration with the OSIRIS-REx team.
Watching Siding Spring's encounter with Mars
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/17 04:11 CDT | 5 comments
The nucleus of comet Siding Spring passes close by Mars on Sunday, October 19, at 18:27 UTC. Here are links to webcasts and websites that should have updates throughout the encounter.
Curiosity update, sols 764-781: Work complete at Confidence Hills; puzzling arm issues
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/17 12:53 CDT | 7 comments
Curiosity spent a total of four weeks at Confidence Hills, feeding samples to SAM and CheMin several times. On two weekends during this period, the rover's activities were interrupted by faults with the robotic arm. Curiosity drove away from Confidence Hills on sol 780, and is ready to observe comet Siding Spring over the weekend.
As Deadlines Loom, LightSail Bends but Doesn't Break
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/10/15 09:49 CDT | 5 comments
The Planetary Society's LightSail-A spacecraft is close to completing a final series of tests that pave the way for a possible 2015 test flight. But as deadlines loom, a new problem has sent the team scrambling to make a quick repair.
Finally! New Horizons has a second target
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/15 01:02 CDT | 17 comments
What a huge relief: there is finally a place for New Horizons to visit beyond Pluto. A team of researchers led by John Spencer has discovered three possible targets, all in the Cold Classical part of the Kuiper belt. One is particularly easy to reach. New Horizons would fly past the 30-45-kilometer object in January 2019.
Field Report from Mars: Sol 3808 — October 10, 2014
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2014/10/15 10:22 CDT | 1 comments
Opportunity will become a comet flyby mission beginning in mid-October. The comet Siding Spring will zoom past Mars at a distance of about 135,000 km on October 19.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/14 08:05 CDT | 10 comments
Today the Mars Orbiter Mission released a nice four-image animation of teeny dark Phobos crossing Mars' huge orange disk. Mars Orbiter Mission joins a long line of Mars missions that have produced images of Mars and Phobos together.
Video Introduction to Comet Siding Spring’s Near Miss at Mars
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2014/10/13 05:14 CDT
On October 19, 2014, Comet Siding Spring will fly very close to Mars. Here’s a 5 minute video introduction to get you up to speed on this planetary near miss, and some suggestions on how to find out more now, during, and after the encounter.
From Mercury orbit, MESSENGER watches a lunar eclipse
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/10 10:07 CDT | 3 comments
Watch as our enormous moon -- a quarter the diameter of the planet -- just winks out as it passes into Earth's long shadow, in an animation captured from more than 100 million kilometers away.
JPL Releases a Big, Bold Website Redesign
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/10/09 06:37 CDT | 2 comments
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory released a major overhaul of its website. Here's a closer look.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/09 03:53 CDT | 11 comments
It's now been two years since Dawn wrapped up its work at the second-largest asteroid. What else did we get from the Vesta encounter besides great photos? Recently, I asked Dawn's deputy project scientist, Carol Raymond, for help in summarizing a few of the big things Dawn taught us.
Mars Orbiter Mission shifts orbit to take cover from Siding Spring
Posted by Srinivas Laxman on 2014/10/09 11:23 CDT
With only 10 days remaining until the arrival of Comet Siding Spring at Mars, ISRO has shielded the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) from the comet. On Tuesday MOM’s orbit was altered so as to move it behind the Red Planet when the comet arrives. MOM will carry out observations of the comet and its Mars Colour Camera will click images of it.
New global Mars image from Mars Orbiter Mission features Gale crater
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/07 11:58 CDT | 4 comments
ISRO has released a second global image of Mars from the Mars Colour Camera on Mars Orbiter Mission, and smack dab in the center of it is Gale crater, home to Curiosity.
Comet Siding Spring: Exciting times
Posted by Karl Battams on 2014/10/06 03:11 CDT | 5 comments
We're now less than two weeks away from Comet Siding Spring buzzing ridiculously close to Mars, and the excitement is building - in both good and bad ways...
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2014/10/06 01:09 CDT
October 2014 brings big sky fun: a total lunar and partial solar eclipse, both visible from North America. The lunar eclipse will also be visible from most areas around the Pacific Ocean. Here is info on how to observe these eclipses.
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