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Meet our bloggers...CEO, Bill Nye, Emily Lakdawalla, Bruce Betts, Mat Kaplan, Casey Dreier, and a host of expert and entertaining voices from throughout our vast space community.

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Departure view from MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury

Dueling Desolations: Mercury vs. the Moon

Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/05/13 01:02 CDT | 7 comments

They look so similar they can be hard to tell apart, but each hides its own mysteries.

International Space Station with Space Shuttle Endeavour

Station suffers ammonia leak; Saturday spacewalk likely (rolling updates)

Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/05/10 01:25 CDT | 2 comments

Following an ammonia leak reported Thursday morning, NASA is planning a spacewalk to investigate a radiator on the P6 truss.

Planetary Society Hangout: A Day in the Life of the Opportunity Rover with Emily Dean

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/05/09 02:20 CDT | 1 comments

Thursday, May 9th, at noon PDT/3pm EDT/1900h UTC, we are joined by Emily Dean, who works on the camera team for the Opportunity rover on Mars.

The Planetary Society Travels to Washington, D.C. Next Week

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/05/09 01:28 CDT | 2 comments

We're storming D.C. next week to raise awareness of continued cuts to NASA's Planetary Science Division.

Chang'E 3 being lowered into chamber for thermal vacuum testing, May 2013

Chang'e 3 undergoing thermal vacuum testing

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/09 10:48 CDT | 5 comments

China's lunar lander and rover are undergoing some of their last major tests and so are nearly ready for launch.

DSS 35: Watch the construction of the next big dish!

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/08 11:23 CDT

You can watch via webcam as the next Deep Space Network radio antenna -- DSS 35, in Tidbinbilla, Australia -- gets its dish.

2013 Planetary Defense Conference Tabletop Exercise - Rusty Schweikart Cathy Plesko

Saving the Planet can be Exciting!

Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/05/07 05:02 CDT

Planetary Radio for the week of May 6 visits the Planetary Defense Conference one last time to join a "tabletop" simulation of a killer asteroid threat.

Thoughts on Kiera Wilmot: Mentor curiosity to create future scientists

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/03 12:30 CDT | 32 comments

Please bear with me -- this blog entry has nothing to do with planets but a lot to do with society. For the last two days, my Twitter feed has been roiling with outrage about the story of Kiera Wilmot.

New Deep Impact Hartley 2 data set

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/03 09:59 CDT | 4 comments

Just messing around with a recently released processed version of the Deep Impact Hartley 2 data set.

Planetary Society Weekly Hangout (Special Time): MESSENGER at Mercury with Larry Nittler, Fri May 3 5pm PDT / midnight UTC

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/02 07:00 CDT | 2 comments

Note the special time! In this week's Planetary Society hangout at 5pm PDT / midnight UTC, I'll talk with MESSENGER deputy principal investigator Larry Nittler about what MESSENGER has accomplished in its prime and extended missions at Mercury, and what it stands to do if awarded a mission extension.