Blog Archive

Planetary Society Hangout: Naming Bennu, with Mike Puzio and Dante Lauretta

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/01 09:51 CDT | 2 comments

In this week's Hangout, Emily Lakdawalla hosted Mike Puzio and Dante Lauretta in a discussion about the naming of OSIRIS-REx' asteroid target.

We have a winner! The OSIRIS-REx asteroid's name is: Bennu!

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/01 09:37 CDT

We received more than 8000 entries from all over the world in the Name That Asteroid contest, and we can finally announce the winner. The asteroid formerly known as 1999 RQ36 is now formally named (101955) Bennu, for a heron associated with the Egyptian god Osiris.

2011 HM₁₀₂: A new companion for Neptune

Posted by Alex Parker on 2013/04/30 04:20 CDT | 2 comments

This month my latest paper made it to print in the Astronomical Journal. It's a short piece that describes a serendipitous discovery that my collaborators and I made while searching for a distant Kuiper Belt Object for the New Horizons spacecraft to visit after its 2015 Pluto flyby.

American Astronomical Society Criticizes NASA Planetary Science Budget

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/30 01:38 CDT

The AAS made a strong critique of proposed cuts to NASA's Planetary Science program today.

Dark No More: Exploring the Far Side of the Moon

Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/04/29 02:11 CDT | 3 comments

The first human beings to see the mysterious "dark" side of the moon were not astronauts.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo first powered flight

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.

Further Analysis of NASA's 2014 Budget Proposal

Posted by Van Kane on 2013/04/29 11:19 CDT | 7 comments

Now that groups and individuals have had time to digest the proposed 2014 NASA Planetary Science budget, they are highlighting the impacts of the proposed cuts. We are also getting the first independent reactions to the proposal to bring an asteroid to lunar orbit as a target for human exploration.

Cutting NASA's Education and Public Outreach Efforts Now Is Short-sighted and Counterproductive

Posted by Lars Perkins on 2013/04/26 04:45 CDT | 4 comments

Lars Perkins, Chairman of NAC's Education Committee, writes a defense of NASA's Education and Outreach efforts, currently facing a major cut and restructuring in 2014.

Curiosity on Mars - Design, Planning, and the First Mars Year of Operations

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/26 04:14 CDT | 13 comments

Last month, I formally entered a new phase of my career: I signed my first book contract. I'll be writing a book about the Curiosity mission through its prime mission, for Springer-Praxis.

CEO Bill Nye Joins NASA Advisory Council on Education and Public Outreach

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/25 06:25 CDT | 7 comments

Planetary Society CEO, Bill Nye, just joined the NASA Advisory Council for Education.

Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: 2014 NASA Budget Update and Planetary Defense Conference Recap
Thursday, Apr 25, at noon PDT/1900h UTC

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/25 12:44 CDT | 3 comments

We take your questions on the 2014 NASA Budget, the Planetary Defense Conference, and Mars One.

Awesome interactive solar system exploration history infographic

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/25 11:26 CDT | 2 comments

Check out this absolutely wonderful infographic, produced by Olaf Frohn, that summarizes the entire history of solar system exploration.

House NASA Budget Hearing Live-blog

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/24 12:59 CDT | 3 comments

Live blog of comments and analysis from the House Science Committee's hearing on NASA's 2014 Budget.

An Amazing Evening for Planetary Defense
Join us via Planetary Radio and complete video coverage.

Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/04/23 07:12 CDT | 1 comments

Bill Nye, Bruce Betts, Mat Kaplan, Meteorite Man Geoffrey Notkin and stars of planetary science at the Planetary Defense Conference public event in Flagstaff.

One of my favorite image processing tricks: colorizing images

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/23 02:11 CDT | 2 comments

An easy image processing trick -- using lower-resolution color data to colorize a black-and-white photo -- is relied upon by many space missions to keep data volumes low. Here's how to do it.

Twitter Accounts for Key Space Representatives

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/23 01:05 CDT

Here are the official Twitter accounts for key people in Congress associated with supporting Planetary Science.

[updated] Tweet #fundPlanetary Today and Spread the Word to Help Save Planetary Exploration

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/23 07:04 CDT | 3 comments

Congress meets this week to discuss the 2014 NASA budget. We need as many people to reach out as possible so Planetary Science is on the agenda.

Planetary Science Is Fading to Black, Claims New Op-Ed

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/22 02:35 CDT | 4 comments

A powerful new op-ed in SpaceNews traces the inevitable decline of NASA's Planetary Science missions if the current cuts to the program are implemented.