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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
LightSail Drama Continues as Spacecraft Wakes for Second Time
LightSail is back in business, following the second extended outage of the test spacecraft’s mission. The CubeSat checked in at 2:21 p.m. EDT Saturday.
The Planetary Society at Earth Day NYC
Volunteer Network Coordinator Kate Howells reports on our first time participating in New York City's enormous Earth Day celebration.
Using Cardboard to Tour Mars
Former Mars rover driver Scott Maxwell uses Google Cardboard to take a tour of the Red Planet.
LightSail Falls Silent; Battery Glitch Suspected
The LightSail test spacecraft fell silent for a second time, less than a day after completing what appeared to be a successful solar panel deployment.
LightSail Solar Panel Deployment: No Pics, but Data Look Good
LightSail didn’t send home pretty pictures of Earth today, but it did relay promising signs that its deployable solar panels swung successfully out into space.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Tours Spirit of St. Louis Crater
Opportunity spent a mostly merry month of May on Mars touring Spirit of St. Louis Crater, stopping at science targets named in honor of Charles Lindbergh and the incredible flight he took 88 years ago.
[Upated] House of Representatives Voting on NASA's 2016 Budget Today
NASA's 2016 budget is up for a major vote in the House of Representatives today, but it's just a step on the long road to a final budget in the fall.
LightSail Deployment Update: Panels Wednesday, Sails Friday
LightSail Mission Managers have decided to split the spacecraft’s sail deployment sequence into two segments, following an extended checkout period that wrapped up Tuesday.
First Look: Partial Camera Test Images from LightSail
A jumbled JPG never looked so pretty. This afternoon, LightSail sent home pieces of two images taken by one of the spacecraft's onboard cameras.
Lonny Baker: An Appreciation
Global Volunteer Coordinator Tom Kemp pays a heartfelt tribute to The Planetary Society's first Global Volunteer Leader, Lonny Baker.
A (very) few more details on Pluto
Last week the New Horizons mission released a few new processed versions of their latest and greatest images of Pluto. They're the best images of Pluto that Earth has ever seen, but they're still a long way from what New Horizons will be able to show us, six weeks from now.
Contact! LightSail Phones Home after 8-Day Silence
The Planetary Society’s LightSail test spacecraft reported for duty this afternoon, heralding the end of an uneasy silence caused by a suspected software glitch.
LightSail Team Prepares for Sail Deployment
LightSail is almost ready for its moment in the sun. Mission managers are preparing for a manual solar sail deployment this week.
Dawn Journal: Spiralling Closer to Ceres
Dawn's Chief Engineer and Mission Director Marc Rayman gives an update as the spacecraft's orbit takes it even closer to the dwarf planet Ceres.
For LightSail Test Mission, Waiting is the Hardest Part
The Planetary Society's LightSail spacecraft is now entering its second week of silence.
Four mission assembly progress reports: ExoMars TGO, InSight, OSIRIS-REx, and BepiColombo
2015 has seen few deep-space-craft launches, but 2016 is shaping up to be a banner year with three launches, followed quickly by a fourth in early 2017. All of the missions under development have reported significant milestones recently.
Why We Don't Know When the Europa Mission Will Launch
NASA has been vague about when the new mission to Europa will launch. There's a reason for that, and it's not just orbital mechanics.
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Special Qualities
Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares some images of nebulae and a galaxy with some special qualities to each of them.
Here Are the Science Instruments NASA Will Use to Explore Europa
NASA just announced the science instruments that will be used to understand the enigmatic ocean moon of Europa. The mission is planned to launch sometime in the early 2020s.
Software Glitch Pauses LightSail Test Mission
The Planetary Society’s LightSail test mission has been paused while engineers wait out a suspected software glitch that has silenced the solar sailing spacecraft.