Emily's Blog
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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Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/08 04:22 CST | 1 comments
Join me, Mike "Plutokiller" Brown, Mario Livio, Jason Kalirai, and others in a Space Fan Hangout broadcast from the American Astronomical Society meeting happening this week in Long Beach, California.
Looking ahead to spacecraft activities in 2013
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/04 01:09 CST | 3 comments
2013 is going to be a busy year in space exploration. Two missions launch to the Moon (LADEE and Chang'E 3), and another two to Mars (MAVEN and India's mission). Curiosity should drive to the Mountain, and Opportunity to the next site on Endeavour's rim. Cassini will be seeing rings and Titan. Others should continue routine operations, except maybe MESSENGER, whose fate after March is not yet decided.
Updates on ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission: five instruments to be delivered in March
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/04 11:27 CST | 2 comments
Several news articles appeared in Indian media today about the upcoming launch of ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission. Five instruments have been selected, and their delivery is expected in March.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout, Thu Jan 3 1200PT/2000UT: Jim Bell
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/02 12:32 CST | 3 comments
Join Emily Lakdawalla and Casey Dreier for a chat with Jim Bell, a scientist who wears many hats. He's the team lead for the Pancam color cameras on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers; he's a member of the Curiosity science team; and he's the esteemed President of the Planetary Society's Board of Directors. We'll talk about the great science being done by both Curiosity and Opportunity, and about what's in store for the future.
Pretty picture: Jupiter photo from an unusual source
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/26 01:02 CST | 4 comments
A recently launched Earth-observing satellite is using the stars to practice its pointing, and caught a neat animation of Jupiter.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/19 10:06 CST | 3 comments
Join us for our weekly Google+ Hangout Thursday at noon PT / 2000 UT. This week, I'm excited to have as a guest Sarah Hörst. Sarah is a postdoc at the University of Colorado whose current line of research involves experimental work on the complex atmospheric chemistry of Titan. She is also applying to be an astronaut!
Mars Express VMC resumes raw data posting
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/19 09:31 CST | 2 comments
ESA brought Mars Express' VMC back online in May, but hasn't been posting the images. This week, they launched a new process to release VMC images automatically to a Flickr page.
My ever-popular asteroids-and-comets montage, now in color, with bonus Toutatis
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/18 04:26 CST | 9 comments
My collage of all the asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft is probably the single most popular image I have ever posted on this blog. I've now updated it to be in color and to include Toutatis.
Chang'E 2 imaging of Toutatis succeeded beyond my expectations!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/14 05:59 CST | 19 comments
The Chang'E 2 mission flyby of Toutatis succeeded in acquiring images. Oh my goodness, did they succeed. These, in combination with the incredible radar images still being acquired from Goldstone and innumerable optical observations, make Toutatis one of the best-studied asteroids in the solar system.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/13 05:34 CST | 2 comments
The twin GRAIL spacecraft are nearly out of fuel, and are being directed to a controlled impact near the north pole on the near side of the Moon on December 17. Before the end, though, they did some cool things, including flying within 2000 meters of mountaintops, and catching video of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in flight.
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