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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One of my favorite image processing tricks: colorizing images

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/23 02:11 CDT | 2 comments

An easy image processing trick -- using lower-resolution color data to colorize a black-and-white photo -- is relied upon by many space missions to keep data volumes low. Here's how to do it.

Mars One astronaut selection announcement

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/21 08:29 CDT | 25 comments

Today I am on my way to New York City, where I will be serving as the moderator for Mars One's first press briefing.

Aproned mesas in Deuteronilus Mensae, Mars

A walk among the mesas of Deuteronilus Mensae

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/19 02:17 CDT | 4 comments

Enjoy some pretty pictures of some bizarre terrain on Mars: the mesas of Deuteronilus Mensae.

Tides of light and ice: Water and rock made from snowmelt on Mars

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/17 01:29 CDT | 4 comments

A recently published paper proposes that much of the sedimentary rock on Mars formed during rare, brief periods of very slight wetness under melting snow.

Help Wanted: Web Editor Intern

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/16 10:56 CDT

The Planetary Society is looking for a bright, motivated person with superb attentiveness to detail who wants hands-on web editing experience.

Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: The Ice Giants, with Heidi Hammel

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/11 02:00 CDT | 5 comments

My guest this was Planetary Society Board vice president Heidi Hammel. We discussed two planets near and dear to our hearts, Neptune and Uranus. What's new on these icy worlds since Voyager 2 passed by, and what are the prospects for their future exploration?

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.

Pretty pictures: Gliding flight for SpaceShipTwo

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/05 12:46 CDT | 8 comments

Some beautiful photos of a recent gliding flight test of SpaceShipTwo.

Better conference talks

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/04/04 11:37 CDT | 27 comments

I've been to a lot of conferences and seen a lot of talks and it's amazing to me how a bad presentation can get in the way of really exciting science. Here are my recommendations for how to approach a talk, and tips and tricks to make your talk better.