Snapshots from Space

by Emily Lakdawalla

Follow the thrilling adventures of planetary missions, past and present, and see the stunningly beautiful photos that they return from space!

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Woohoo! The LEGO Curiosity rover is going to be a kit!

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/18 07:02 CDT

The awesome LEGO Curiosity rover designed by Stephen Pakbaz is going to go into production!

Io and Europa from New Horizons (Emily Lakdawalla's version)

Favorite space images: "Many Worlds"

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/17 10:58 CDT | 1 comments

For this evening's Planetary Radio Live event, Mat Kaplan asked me to do a presentation of some favorite space images. I told him that picking favorite space images is like picking favorite children; it's not possible because they're all my favorite. To narrow things down, I decided to explore a theme: "Many Worlds."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Planetary Resources' Crowdfunded Space Telescope

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/31 11:25 CDT | 1 comments

A fan-funded space telescope, usable by the public? It's an awesome idea, and it appears that a wide swath of the public agrees. Planetary Resources, headed by president and chief engineer Chris Lewicki, announced a Kickstarter project yesterday, with the goal of raising $1 million toward one of their ARKYD space telescopes.

Goldstone radar images of asteroid (285263) 1998 QE2

Say "hi!" to asteroid -- actually, asteroids -- (285263) 1998 QE2

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/30 06:51 CDT | 7 comments

A large asteroid is passing reasonably close to Earth in a few hours, and astronomers at the great radio telescopes at Goldstone and Arecibo are zapping it. The latest discovery: QE2, like many asteroids, is a binary.