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Yes, there seems to be a hole in Curiosity's left front wheel, and no, that's not a problem
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/02 11:22 CDT | 17 comments
Some brand-new images just arrived from Curiosity on Mars, and two of the most recent are Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) images of the wheels. Today's images contained two little surprises.
The "Starship Century" Beckons
Gregory and James Benford return to Planetary Radio
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/10/01 10:30 CDT
The Benford brothers provide inspiration and hard fact in their excellent new anthology about interstellar travel.
[Updated] A Government Shutdown Could Delay MAVEN's Launch to Mars
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/09/30 05:17 CDT | 2 comments
NASA confirmed that a government shutdown could affect pre-launch processing of the MAVEN spacecraft, currently scheduled to launch to Mars on November 18th.
Watch LADEE Launch to the Moon with The Planetary Society
Live Webcast Begins HERE at 7:30pm PDT / 10:30pm EDT
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/09/06 08:45 CDT
Starting at 7:30pm PDT/10:30pm EDT, we will webcast a special event around the launch of NASA's next lunar spacecraft. Watch our special coverage with lunar scientists and live video from the launch site, as well as NASA TV footage of the launch itself.
China Goes to the Moon and Beyond?
A Conversation with Space Journalist Leonard David
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/08/27 01:06 CDT
Planetary Radio guest Leonard David has been writing about space exploration for more than five decades. He has collected analysis from around the world about China's big plans for space exploration.
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.
Caution: Spacecraft Under Construction
Visiting JPL's high bay clean room with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/08/20 10:39 CDT | 1 comments
Join Emily Lakdawalla and Mat Kaplan inside JPL's High Bay 1, where two Earth-revealing missions are being readied for launch.
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.
Return of the Pale Blue Dot
Join the Wave at Saturn (and Mercury)!
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/07/18 11:27 CDT | 4 comments
You can be part of a planetwide group photo as Cassini and MESSENGER turn their cameras Earthward on July 19.
A new HiRISE view of Opportunity (sol 3361)
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/07/17 06:14 CDT
The HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped a lovely color photo of the rim of Endeavour crater, catching Opportunity midway between Nobby's Head and Solander Point.
Supersonic flight for SpaceShipTwo
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/29 12:48 CDT | 6 comments
Virgin Galactic achieved a major milestone today with the first supersonic flight for its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle. The rocket fired for a total of 16 seconds.
Russia's Mars 3 lander maybe found by Russian amateurs
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/12 01:22 CDT | 4 comments
Виталий Егоров (Vitaliy Egorov) is a Russian space enthusiast who enlisted help of fellow enthusiasts to search for -- and maybe find -- the Russian Mars 3 hardware on the Martian surface. Here he explains how he did it.
Blast from the Past: Spirit's tracks at the "End of the Rainbow"
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/09 09:05 CDT | 3 comments
Doug Ellison shared this lovely panorama via Twitter over the weekend. It's from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, taken back in 2004. The drunken path in the foreground is a visual record of just how exciting it was for Spirit to have finally made it to the Columbia Hills, and to rocks that were not fragments of basalt.
Why can Hubble get detailed views of distant galaxies but not of Pluto?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/14 12:37 CST | 15 comments
How come Hubble's pictures of galaxies billions of light years away are so beautifully detailed, yet the pictures of Pluto, which is so much closer, are just little blobs? I get asked this question, or variations of it, a lot. Here's an explainer.
A new rover self-portrait and a new color image of Curiosity from orbit
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/04 05:40 CST | 7 comments
Curiosity is inching her way through her first use of the drill on a Martian rock. She paused in the proceedings to capture a second Martian "selfie."
Pretty picture: new HiRISE view of Curiosity, sol 145
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/16 04:58 CST | 2 comments
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a new view of Curiosity on Mars on January 2 (sol 145). Curiosity was in the same location as the one from which it shot the sol 137 panorama I posted earlier. You can see the rover's tracks leading all the way back to the landing site!
Watch Planetary Radio LIVE on Saturday!
Saturday's webcast is all about Curiosity on Mars
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/12/15 11:10 CST | 1 comments
Watch the live show at 2pm Pacific on Saturday, December 15 to see Bill Nye, Emily Lakdawalla and the leaders of the Mars Science Laboratory rover mission.
Planetary Radio: A Dawn MIssion Update
And a Video Tour of Marc Rayman's Space Collection
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/11/20 12:36 CST
A Planetary Radio status report from the Dawn mission's Marc Rayman, accompanied by a fascinating video tour of Marc's at-home collection of space information and memorabilia.
Visiting Viking at Seattle's Museum of Flight
Posted by Tom Dahl on 2012/11/14 03:03 CST
One of the nicest aerospace museums in the United States is the Museum of Flight, outside Seattle, Washington. I traveled cross-country in order to visit the "Flight Capsule 3" Viking lander, a backup unit that was never completed. Its partially built state exposes its internal structures, making it a boon to study.
Curiosity, Endeavour, and Bill Nye on Your Phone
All these and more on this week's Planetary Radio
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/11/07 10:31 CST
This week's Planetary Radio episode presents highlights of the first Curiosity press briefing about the Martian atmosphere, and then takes you to the opening day ceremony for Shuttle Endeavour. You have till Friday, November 9, at 10am Pacific to send your 10th anniversary message to the show and possibly win Bill Nye on your answering machine.
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