Blog Archive

Cosmic Concert Webcast Tonight at 7pm PDT / 10pm EDT

Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/06/17 06:59 CDT

We've got a full house for this evening's Planetary Radio Live, but you can watch the live webcast with singer/songwriter Peter Mayer and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Great News: New Horizons to "stay the course" at Pluto

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/17 02:47 CDT

This is extremely good news: after more than a year of analysis, the New Horizons mission and NASA have concluded and agreed that New Horizons' originally-planned trajectory past Pluto is likely safe from dust.

Some Favorite Shots from the Mars Webcam

Exploring Ten Years' Worth of Mars Express Data

Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/06/13 01:09 CDT | 3 comments

Mars Express has been in flight for a decade, more than enough time to send home some amazing finds.

Planetary Society Hangout: LaserBees, Asteroids, and Planet Vacuums
Thursday, Jun 13, noon PDT/1900 UTC

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/06/13 12:39 CDT | 1 comments

We check in with Dr. Bruce Betts, our Director of Projects, on the latest from our current programs funded by our members.

Laser Bees: Betts and Gibbings at PDC 2013

Planetary Defense Conference 2013 Part 3
Laser Bees

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/06/12 09:19 CDT | 3 comments

Part 3 of Bruce Betts' wrap up from the Planetary Defense Conference 2013 focuses on the Laser Bees (asteroid deflection method) project and Laser Bees researcher Alison Gibbings.

China launches three-person crew to visit Tiangong 1 space station

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/11 03:38 CDT | 2 comments

China's Shenzhou 10 spacecraft is bound for space station Tiangong 1 following a successful liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia.

Ten years since Spirit's launch

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/10 04:10 CDT | 1 comments

Ten years ago, Spirit launched on a Delta II rocket toward Mars, and I was there to see it.

Confirmed: NASA Defies the Will of Congress by Raiding Planetary Science Funding [updated]

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/06/10 03:40 CDT | 13 comments

Despite congressional rejection of massive cuts to Planetary Science this year, NASA has found a way to implement the cuts internally and use the money for other purposes.

Pretty pictures: Curiosity working late

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/07 11:47 CDT | 2 comments

Just some cool photos of Curiosity lighting up the Cumberland drill hole after sunset for a little nighttime science work.

Morpheus lander gets back off its feet

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/07 01:58 CDT | 4 comments

NASA's Project Morpheus lander completed a 74-second flight yesterday, marking the second tethered test of the new vehicle.

ESA launches fourth cargo spacecraft to ISS

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/06 11:57 CDT | 1 comments

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the Automated Transfer Vehicle Albert Einstein lifted off from French Guiana Wednesday.

Launch is coming! LADEE arrives at Wallops

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/06 10:01 CDT | 5 comments

It's a big day for any space mission: the shipping of the spacecraft from its assembly facility to its launch facility. That happened for the next lunar mission, LADEE, on June 4, 2013.

POSTPONED: Planetary Society Hangout, Planetary Resources' Chris Lewicki

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/05 11:23 CDT

The Hangout has been postponed because of technical difficulties. Stay tuned for rescheduling information.

Another drive, a new NASA record for Opportunity

Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Departs Cape York, Breaks Apollo Record
Sols 3295 - 3325

Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/06/05 09:22 CDT | 1 comments

It was a merry and mighty month of May for the Mars Exploration Rover mission: Opportunity finished a blockbuster study of Matijevic Hill finding the best evidence yet for an ancient, potentially habitable environment, and then embarked on its first real road trip in two years. The robot field geologist had barely gotten underway on its journey when it surpassed the Apollo 17 lunar rover distance record to become the most traveled NASA vehicle on another planetary body.

TPS One-pager on 2014 Budget for Planetary Science

Download This One-Page Summary on the Threat to Planetary Science

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/06/05 07:11 CDT | 5 comments

When we visit Congress, this is what we leave them with. This one page summarizes the entire threat to continued planetary exploration at NASA in the proposed 2014 budget.

Curiosity update, sol 295: "Hitting the road" to Mount Sharp

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/05 04:54 CDT | 3 comments

There was a Curiosity telephone conference this morning to make an exciting announcement: they're (almost) done at Glenelg and are preparing for the drive south to Mount Sharp. Allow me an editorial comment: finally!

One Ocean World Among Many

Posted by Jim Bell on 2013/06/03 03:53 CDT | 6 comments

I'm absolutely floored when I stop to think that our beautiful blue ocean is only one of perhaps a half dozen or more oceans on other worlds in our solar system, and only one of probably millions (or more) oceans on other Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Oceans abound!