Blogs

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Generation Zero of JPL Planetary Rovers

Mike Blackstone • July 12, 2018 •

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a fabled history of planetary rovers. But how do you start such a program?

Fire at ISRO's Space Application Centre

Sandhya Ramesh • May 15, 2018

Two weeks ago, Indian media reported a fire at the Space Application Centre (SAC) of ISRO in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Although it was a big fire, it was in an isolated building and no spacecraft was damaged.

How far they'll go: Moana shows the power of Polynesian celestial navigation

Duane W. Hamacher and Carla Bento Guedes • November 21, 2017

The Polynesian peoples' astronomical knowledge helped them colonize the vast Pacific Ocean.

Twin GRAIL spacecraft preparing for launch

American R&D Policy and the Push for Small Planetary Missions at NASA

Jason Callahan • October 11, 2017

Planetary Society Policy Adviser Jason Callahan summarizes his paper he presented at the 2017 International Astronautical Congress in Australia, where he examined NASA's low-cost Discovery program and how federal policies directed at higher education initially bolstered planetary science into a viable field.

The SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array

Doing SETI Better by Understanding Ourselves

Jason Wright • October 06, 2017

One of the reasons SETI is hard is that we don’t know exactly what we are looking for, and part of that difficulty is that we still aren’t sure of who we are. An astronomer and an anthropologist team up to explore how cultural myopia shape what we can find in the cosmos.

Voyager 40th Anniversary: Summer of '79

Paul Schenk • September 08, 2017 •

Planetary scientist Paul Schenk shares his story of working on the Voyager missions as a JPL intern back in 1979.

Five Earth Years on Mars

Casey Dreier • August 05, 2017

Five (Earth) years ago today, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity landed in a dramatic fashion on the surface of the Red Planet. We look back at a mission that advanced humanity's understanding of Mars and provided a priceless return on a modest investment.