Blog Archive

Bad Budget News for NASA's Planetary Exploration Program

Posted by Bill Nye on 2013/04/10 12:08 CDT | 12 comments

The Administration just released its proposed budget for 2014 and it contains some very bad news for NASA's planetary exploration program. Just three weeks ago the U.S. Congress rejected similar cuts proposed for planetary exploration last year. It was a clear statement of support by both Congress and the public: planetary exploration is an affordable national priority.

2014 NASA Budget Cuts $200 million from Planetary Science -- Again

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/10 12:00 CDT | 1 comments

NASA's new budget doubles down on cuts to Planetary Science, despite Congress rejecting a similar proposal last year.

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.

One Day in the Solar System

Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/04/08 09:12 CDT | 4 comments

Dispatches from five different worlds--all sent by robotic spacecraft on the same day.

More Evidence for a Habitable Mars from EGU 2013

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/08 06:36 CDT | 3 comments

NASA's Curiosity rover has acquired further evidence that Mars's atmosphere was once dense enough to support liquid water on the surface.

Will the Sequester Take an Outsized Bite from Planetary Science at NASA?

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/04/06 09:11 CDT | 2 comments

Despite a $223 million boost from Congress this year, NASA's Planetary Science Division may not be allowed to use that money so NASA can prevent cuts in other programs.