Blog Archive

Mars Exploration Rovers Mission Update: Opportunity Continues Sprint to Solander Point
Sols 3325 - 3354

Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/07/04 04:04 CDT | 1 comments

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission celebrated its 10th anniversary of leaving Earth in June, as Opportunity continued the sprint to its next winter haven at Endeavour Crater.

The PlanetVac Team from Honeybee Robotics

PlanetVac Moving Forward
Meet the Team and Learn What They are Doing

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/07/03 01:23 CDT | 4 comments

Meet the PlanetVac team and learn their general plan and what they are doing now. PlanetVac is a newly started Planetary Society and Honeybee Robotics project to test a pneumatic system to sample planetary surfaces.

A patriotic return to space

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/07/03 07:03 CDT

When Space Shuttle Discovery launched on its 1988 return-to-flight mission, it was a big moment for NASA and America.

Russian rocket crashes in spectacular explosion

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/07/02 07:11 CDT | 2 comments

A Russian Proton-M rocket veered off course and crashed in a nearby field shortly after liftoff from Baikonur, Kazahkstan.

Dawn Journal: Breaking Velocity Records

Posted by Marc Rayman on 2013/07/02 10:26 CDT | 7 comments

The indefatigable Dawn spacecraft is continuing its extraordinary interplanetary flight on behalf of inquisitive creatures on distant Earth. Progressing ever farther from Vesta, the rocky and rugged world it so recently explored, the ship is making good progress toward its second port of call, dwarf planet Ceres.

Planetary Radio: Don't Step in That Puddle!
The Strong Evidence for Water on the Moon

Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/07/01 06:18 CDT

The Planetary Science Institute's Amanda Hendrix is the guest for our July 1 episode. She finds water in the least likely places, including Luna.

PlanetVac Sample Implementation with Lander

PlanetVac Project Underway
Planetary Society Sponsored Surface Sampling Project

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/07/01 02:56 CDT | 1 comments

The Planetary Society's PlanetVac project with Honeybee Robotics is now fully underway. Here we provide a just released statement by Honeybee, and an introduction to this lab test of a new planetary surface sampling system.

Deflecting the flames of a monster rocket

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/07/01 12:24 CDT | 3 comments

Work continues to prepare Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39B for the Space Launch System, as a flame trench deflector originally built for the Space Shuttle is removed.

The Space Computer and the Beautiful Worlds

Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/06/30 11:31 CDT | 2 comments

An "Up Goer 5" tribute to the Cassini mission.

ARKYD Kickstarter Finale Webcast
Sunday, June 30, 2013 from 3-7pm PT

Posted by Bill Nye on 2013/06/28 07:58 CDT | 1 comments

Bill Nye will be at Seattle's Museum of Flight Sunday, June 30, 2013 from 3-7pm PT for the closing celebration webcast of the Arkyd 100 space-based telescope project.

IRIS safely in orbit, ready to eye sun's atmosphere

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/28 06:01 CDT | 1 comments

IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft, was launched from Orbital Science Corporation's Stargazer carrier aircraft over the Pacific Ocean at 7:27 p.m PDT.

We Need Space-Based Detection of Threats, but NASA Shouldn't Pay for It
Reports from the AGU's Science Policy Conference

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/06/27 01:03 CDT | 5 comments

Early detection is a crucial step in preventing or mitigating threats from space, but it's not NASA's job.

Planetary Society Hangout: Arkyd Telescopes, Planetary Resources, Chris Lewicki
Thursday, Jun 27, noon PDT/1900 UTC

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/06/27 11:15 CDT | 2 comments

We talked to Chris Lewicki, President of Planetary Resources, about their upcoming Arkyd telescopes including one for the public, asteroid mining, and more. Hosted by Bruce Betts with Jennifer Vaughn.

Stationkeeping in Mars orbit

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/27 10:55 CDT | 9 comments

It had never occurred to me to think about geostationary satellites in Mars orbit before reading a new paper by Juan Silva and Pilar Romero. The paper shows that it takes a lot more work to maintain a stationary orbit at an arbitrary longitude at Mars than it does at Earth.

What would Earth's skies look like with Saturn's rings?

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/26 12:59 CDT | 3 comments

Illustrator and author Ron Miller visualizes what we would see in our skies if Saturn’s majestic rings circled the Earth.

Worlds in Collision

Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/06/25 04:38 CDT | 6 comments

Meet some worlds that were nearly shattered, literally.

Russians start workweek with stroll outside ISS

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/25 11:59 CDT | 1 comments

Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin performed a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Monday.

How radar really works: The steps involved before getting an image

Posted by Alessondra Springmann on 2013/06/24 02:10 CDT | 3 comments

Arecibo Observatory is known for its 1000-foot diameter telescope and its appearances in Goldeneye and Contact. Aside from battling Bond villains and driving red diesel Jeeps around the telescope (grousing at the site director about the funding status of projects is optional), several hundred hours a year of telescope time at Arecibo go toward radar studies of asteroids.