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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Pushing back the frontier: How The Planetary Society helped send a spacecraft to Pluto
It took 16 years and five spacecraft designs to get a mission to Pluto. The Planetary Society was there through it all, always striving to help NASA push back our Solar System's frontier.
New Horizons "back in action" after safe mode event, ready to resume encounter science
NASA held a press briefing today to explain the nature and cause of the spacecraft anomaly that halted science on New Horizons for four days as it was on its terminal approach to Pluto. As of the moment that I write this post, New Horizons is not yet performing science observations, but it will resume them tomorrow, July 7.
New Horizons enters safe mode 10 days before Pluto flyby [UPDATED]
New Horizons decided to put on a little 4th of July drama for the mission's fans. It's currently in safe mode, and it will likely be a day or two before it recovers and returns to science, but it remains on course for the July 14 flyby. Here's the mission update in its entirety.[UPDATE]: Normal operations are planned to resume July 7.
In Pictures: Russian Spacecraft Ends Streak of Station Supply Mishaps
Following back-to-back space station resupply failures, a Russian Progress vehicle pulled into port this morning at the International Space Station.
Pluto's progression: Third-to-last Pluto day before encounter
Only two days remain until New Horizons' historic encounter with Pluto....two Pluto days, that is. Pluto and Charon rotate together once every 6.4 days, so as New Horizons has approached the pair over the last week, we've been treated to one stately progression of all of their longitudes.
The Senate Appropriations Committee�s FY 2016 CJS Bill
Congress has made good progress so far this year in moving the annual appropriations bills that fund the government. However, a looming budget battle over the sequestration and budget caps threaten to sideline progress until Congress and the White House reach agreement. Here’s the current situation.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Phones Home after Conjunction Healthy, Ready to Rove
After three weeks of being in a communications blackout on the other side of the Sun during the Earth-Mars solar conjunction, Opportunity phoned home, reporting that she is healthy and ready to continue her mission.
LightSail Project Manager Passes Torch
LightSail project manager Doug Stetson, who helped bring the program from a storage shelf to low-Earth orbit, is passing the torch.
Five steps to prevent asteroid impacts
For Asteroid Day, Bruce Betts reviews 5 steps needed to prevent asteroid impacts, as well as how The Planetary Society is involved in those.
Dawn Journal: Ceres' Intriguing Geology
Dawn is continuing to unveil a Ceres of mysteries at the first dwarf planet discovered. Mission Director Marc Rayman gives us an update.
SpaceX Rocket Breaks Apart En Route to International Space Station
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean during today's flight to the International Space Station.
Inclusive Astronomy Conference
Last week, more than 150 astronomers gathered in Nashville for a conference to examine fundamental questions in our field: Who gets to practice astronomy? How can we make astronomy more inclusive?
Of Course I Still Love You, Falcon: New SpaceX Ship Ready to Catch Rockets
SpaceX is gearing up for its seventh paid cargo run to the International Space Station, and the third attempt to catch the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship in the ocean.
What to expect when you're expecting a flyby: Planning your July around New Horizons' Pluto Pictures (version 2)
Three months ago, I posted an article explaining what to expect during the flyby. This is a revised version of the same post, with some errors corrected, the expected sizes of Nix and Hydra updated, and times of press briefings added.
New Horizons update: Resolving features on Charon and seeing in color
Only about three weeks remain until the flyby — it's getting really close! I almost don't want the anticipation to end. New Horizons is now getting color images and is seeing features on Charon. Deep searches have yielded no new moons.
Preparing America’s Spaceport for NASA’s New Rocket
At Kennedy Space Center, NASA's ground systems program prepares for the first flight of the Space Launch System in 2018.
Thank You, LightSail Trackers
A thank-you to all the space enthusiasts who helped track LightSail during its 25-day test mission.
Transient hot spots on Venus: Best evidence yet for active volcanism
In a paper released in Geophysical Research Letters today, Eugene Shalygin and coauthors have announced the best evidence yet for current, active volcanism on Venus. The evidence comes from the Venus Monitoring Camera, which saw transient hot spots in four locations along a system of rifts near Venus' equator. They saw the hot spots in two distinct episodes in 2008 and 2009.
Philae is awake! What's next for the comet lander's scientific mission?
I woke up early Sunday morning to the dramatic news: Philae is back! With a few days to consider the telemetry, the Philae team is now talking about the science they hope to do. With comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko approaching perihelion in August, it's going to be an exciting ride.
Pluto and Charon spin among the stars
I've spent a happy couple of days playing with raw data downloaded from the New Horizons website, making animations of the dances of Pluto and Charon.