What's Up

with Bruce Betts

Our resident planetary scientist and Director of Projects will keep you up to date on all the exciting projects we are working on. From searching for dangerous asteroids to flying our very own solar sail spacecraft, Bruce will make sure you know what's going on plus enlighten you with his unique bits of space trivia with Random Space Facts, too!

PlanetVac Sample Implementation with Lander

PlanetVac Project Underway

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/07/01 02:56 CDT | 1 comment

The Planetary Society's PlanetVac project with Honeybee Robotics is now fully underway. Here we provide a just released statement by Honeybee, and an introduction to this lab test of a new planetary surface sampling system.

Planetary Society Hangout: Arkyd Telescopes, Planetary Resources, Chris Lewicki

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/06/27 11:15 CDT | 2 comments

We talked to Chris Lewicki, President of Planetary Resources, about their upcoming Arkyd telescopes including one for the public, asteroid mining, and more. Hosted by Bruce Betts with Jennifer Vaughn.

Laser Bees: Betts and Gibbings at PDC 2013

Planetary Defense Conference 2013 Part 3

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.

Jaime Nomen and Bruce Betts at Planetary Defense Conference 2013

Planetary Defense Conference 2013 Part 2

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/05/29 05:25 CDT

Second part of a three part wrap up to April's Planetary Defense Conference: a report on Planetary Shoemaker NEO Grant related activities and people at the Planetary Defense Conference 2013

Planetary Defense Conference 2013 Part 1

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/05/24 05:29 CDT | 2 comments

First part of a 3 part wrap up to April's Planetary Defense Conference: a very brief review of the status of research in asteroid threat related fields based on the conference, report on special activities at the conference, and links to video and audio related to the conference.

Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps

Saving the World: Shoemaker NEO Grant Winners Announced

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/04/17 09:02 CDT | 2 comments

What do the discovery of close fly by asteroid 2012 DA14 and the most productive near Earth object (NEO) follow-up tracking program in the world have in common? They were both made possible by Planetary Society Shoemaker NEO Grants. And, now, we again invest in the future and defending against the asteroid threat to Earth. NEO Shoemaker Award winners for 2013 announced.

This Week at The Planetary Defense Conference

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/04/16 11:52 CDT | 2 comments

Bruce Betts and The Planetary Society are at the International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) in Flagstaff, Arizona. The PDC is held every two years and brings together world experts in saving the world from asteroid impact. The Planetary Society has long been a co-sponsor of the conference. The newest winners in our Shoemaker NEO Grants program will be announced on Wednesday a the conference.

Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: the Giant ALMA Observatory, and Asteroid Tracking

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/03/20 01:31 CDT

Bruce Betts, Mat Kaplan, and asteroid tracker Robert Holmes on the Planetary Society Weekly Google Hangout. Mat discussed and showed pictures from his trip to the giant ALMA observatory and we'll be joined by asteroid tracker extraordinaire, Robert Holmes.

In Memoriam: David S. McKay

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/02/21 06:11 CST | 1 comment

NASA planetary scientist David S. McKay has passed away. He had an enormous impact on planetary studies over the course of his career. He also was a co-investigator on The Planetary Society LIFE experiments.

Bruce Betts screen shot teaching CSUDH Introductory Astronomy class with Saturn in background.

My Free Online College Intro Astronomy Class Starts Today

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/02/06 02:03 CST | 5 comments

Bruce Betts is teaching online Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy at California State University Dominguez Hill again in 2013. You can watch live or archived.