Blog Archive

A stunning view of Mars from Argyre to Thaumasia

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/05/18 06:33 CDT

Image magician Daniel Machacek has done it again, producing a jaw-dropping view of Mars from Viking Orbiter 1, featuring a frosty Argyre basin and stretching across to a series of faults called Thaumasia Fossae.

SpaceX set to launch COTS 2 flight this Saturday

Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/05/18 09:45 CDT | 1 comments

This Saturday, SpaceX will attempt to make history by launching the first commercial spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station.

Making eclipse magic

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/05/16 09:55 CDT | 2 comments

How to enjoy a solar eclipse with your kids, making shadow magic with a pinhole viewer.

Cool video: Jupiter, its moons, a comet, and...the Sun?

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/05/16 11:45 CDT | 1 comments

Here's a neat video posted by SungrazerComets (the Twitter identity of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Sungrazing Comets website) this morning. It's an animation of images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on May 13 and 14, when Jupiter was passing through solar conjunction

Third Martian Anniversary for Mars Climate Sounder

Posted by David Kass on 2012/05/16 11:35 CDT | 2 comments

May 16, 2012 is the third martian anniversary of the start of Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) observations from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. MCS started measuring the atmosphere of Mars three Mars years ago, on September 24, 2006. We can now compare the weather and behavior of the atmosphere in three different years, and find the temperature differences to be surprisingly large.

Earth’s toughest life could survive on Mars

Posted by Mike Malaska on 2012/05/15 06:22 CDT | 6 comments

The surface of Mars is a tough place to survive, but researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) found some lichens and cyanobacteria tough enough to handle those conditions.