Blogs
Blog Archive
Rosetta’s comet is starting to take shape
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/07/03 12:55 CDT
A new animation of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko captured by the Rosetta spacecraft shows the comet rotating.
Pretty pictures of the Cosmos: Interacting galaxies
Posted by Adam Block on 2014/07/02 10:27 CDT
Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block showcases some of his stunning images of what happens when galaxies get a little too close to each other.
LightSail update: Of booms and pretty pictures
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/07/01 03:42 CDT | 3 comments
The latest series of LightSail boom deployment tests went smoothly, paving the way for a full system test later in July.
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2014/07/01 11:34 CDT | 9 comments
Dawn's chief engineer and mission director Marc Rayman gives an overview of the plan for the penultimate orbital phase at Ceres, the “high altitude mapping orbit” (HAMO).
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3705 – June 27, 2014
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2014/06/30 07:30 CDT
Opportunity has left the winter haven and is still driving south along the rim of Endeavour crater, currently exploring an outcrop a few meters from crater rim.
Our Pathway to Exploration Should Start with the Asteroid Redirect Mission
Posted by Louis D. FriedmanTom Jones on 2014/06/30 06:01 CDT | 51 comments
Despite its rejection by the NRC Committee, we argue that the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is an affordable and logical first step in such a sequence. ARM is not only consistent with the NRC Committee’s own principles, but is also the only near- term initiative that can shape their recommendations into a sustainable human space exploration program. ARM would launch U.S. explorers into deep space beyond the Moon, and fits logically into an exploration program aimed at Mars.
LightSail is Ready for Launch! Join Us as the Countdown Begins
Posted by Jennifer Vaughn on 2014/06/27 03:38 CDT | 12 comments
We hope you can be with us as we make a major announcement about our solar sail spacecraft, LightSail-1.
A close look at Saturn's closest moons
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/06/26 08:13 CDT | 1 comments
A new composite image of the eight named moons that orbit closest to Saturn, and a list of all the best Cassini observations of these moons.
Curiosity update: One Mars Year! Sols 662-670
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/06/25 03:34 CDT | 2 comments
On Monday JPL put out a press release marking one year since Curiosity landed -- one Mars year, that is! There was a new version of the Kimberley self-portrait, and a video update on wheel wear testing. While we've been celebrating on Earth, Curiosity has been driving, driving, driving, on a new "safe transit route" taking her southward toward the black sand dunes ringing Mount Sharp.
Skimming the inner planets: Updates on MESSENGER and Venus Express
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/06/24 11:52 CDT | 1 comments
The two spacecraft currently orbiting the two innermost planets are both flying low in their orbits in the final phases of their missions. MESSENGER just performed a rocket burn to raise its orbit slightly, while Venus Express did the opposite.
The latest on NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/06/23 06:01 CDT | 3 comments
During televised updates on June 18 and 19, NASA showcased its progress on Orion and ARM. Here's the latest news.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2014/06/23 09:36 CDT | 3 comments
Seeing Saturn before and after Cassini.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/06/20 10:00 CDT | 1 comments
I am both elated and relieved that Rob Manning and William Simon have written Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer. The book delivers on the promise of its title, in a slender volume that is full of great stories you'll read nowhere else.
The Senate's Flawed NASA Bill Hits a Bump in the Road
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2014/06/19 10:09 CDT | 2 comments
For the second day in a row, the Senate failed to vote on a bill that would fund NASA and other agencies in 2015. Without passage, no progress can be made addressing the flaws contained within.
NASA selects Planetary Society LIFE Proposal
To study flight of LIFE experiment on ARM (Asteroid Redirect Mission)
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2014/06/19 06:10 CDT | 5 comments
NASA has selected a Planetary Society proposal to study accommodation of the Society’s LIFE (Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment) biomodule on NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM).
We could find life on another planet, but do we have the will?
Posted by Bill Nye on 2014/06/19 10:46 CDT | 29 comments
Are we alone in the universe? This month’s National Geographic cover story takes a look at the question, and I weighed in on the subject.
Rosetta completes another rocket burn, spies decreasing activity on comet
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/06/19 10:42 CDT
Rosetta has now completed its three largest rendezvous burns as it approaches ever closer to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Beginning on July 2, Rosetta will now conduct weekly burns, through August 6. Meanwhile, the cometary activity of April and May has quieted again, leaving the comet looking smaller than it did before.
LightSail update: Three steps forward, one step back
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/06/18 05:55 CDT
The LightSail team has found potential workarounds to solve the spacecraft’s boom deployment problems, but more analysis lies ahead.
One Number, Two Budgets
The Senate and House have both agreed to increase NASA's budget to $17.9B, but they have very different ways of spending that money
Posted by Van Kane on 2014/06/17 01:03 CDT | 2 comments
The Senate and House have both agreed to increase NASA's budget to $17.9 billion, but they have very different ways of spending that money.
Hubble to the rescue! The last-ditch effort to discover a Kuiper belt target for New Horizons
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/06/17 11:59 CDT | 5 comments
Will New Horizons have a mission after Pluto? Ground-based searches have failed to turn up anything that New Horizons can reach. Now Hubble is joining the search, but time is running out: a discovery must be made within the next two months.
JOIN THE
PLANETARY SOCIETY
Our Curiosity Knows No Bounds!
Become a member of The Planetary Society and together we will create the future of space exploration.
Featured Video
Intro Astronomy 2015. Class 4: Eclipses, Mercury, Venus-Earth-Mars Atmospheres, Venus
Connect With Us
Facebook! Twitter! Google+ and more…
Continue the conversation with our online community!
