Articles

Emily Lakdawalla

I've got two more pieces of information to share on Akatsuki further to what I posted yesterday. The first one is a worrying detail about what went wrong during orbit insertion.

Emily Lakdawalla

Time to open the eighth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this nearly flat plain?

Emily Lakdawalla

JAXA held two press briefings about Akatsuki yesterday. Reports in both English and Japanese based on these press briefings have cleared up some, but not all, of the mystery about what happened and what is to happen with Akatsuki.

Emily Lakdawalla

There is a press briefing happening right now in Japan, and it's terrible news: Akatsuki failed to enter Venus orbit.

Emily Lakdawalla

A press release (PDF) was posted in Japanese on the Akatsuki website this morning with some official information on the mission status. Here is a translation of the text.

Marc Rayman

Dawn is maintaining its smooth and steady course through the solar system as it gradually closes in on Vesta.

Emily Lakdawalla

I was unable to follow Akatsuki's entry into Venus orbit in real time due to family obligations. Checking in now, about four hours after it was to have entered orbit, it seems that something did not go correctly, but not much information is available.

Emily Lakdawalla

Time to open the sixth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system are these snowy slopes?

Emily Lakdawalla

In just a few hours, Venus will have a second orbiter. Japan's Akatsuki is due to start firing its orbit insertion engines on December 7.

Emily Lakdawalla

Time to open the fourth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this crater-specked mound?

Emily Lakdawalla

Time to open the third door in the advent calendar. Until the New Year, I'll be opening a door onto a different landscape from somewhere in the solar system. Where in the solar system is this wispy terrain?

Emily Lakdawalla

Time to open the second door in the advent calendar. Until the New Year, I'll be opening a door onto a different landscape from somewhere in the solar system. Can you guess where this crater-scarred surface lies?

Emily Lakdawalla

December really has arrived, and that means that the year is racing to a close. Continuing last year's tradition, I'm counting the days to the New Year with an advent calendar, where each

A.J.S. Rayl

The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) forged on in November, their 83rd month of an expedition originally planned for three months: Spirit remained silent at Gusev Crater presumably still re-charging her batteries, as Opportunity roved through a field of craters pressing on toward Endeavour Crater, quietly claiming title along the way to being the first roving robot to drive 25 kilometers on Mars.

Emily Lakdawalla

This was a fun image released by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera science team. Take a look at it and see if you can figure out what the significance of the red arrow is.

Emily Lakdawalla

To celebrate Mars Express' recent mission extension to 2014, here are some cool pictures that it took of Mars' inner and larger moon Phobos.

Emily Lakdawalla

I'm surprised no one's emailed me demanding the last batch of Voyager mission status bulletins! Well, here they are.

Emily Lakdawalla

Europe is apparently of the mind that science and technology will help to carry them out of tough economic times, and has made three-year commitments to continue the in-space operations of 11 missions through 2014.

Emily Lakdawalla

Two brief but significant news items today made me stop and think about how far we've come in space travel.

Emily Lakdawalla

Jupiter, always a pretty sight in the sky, is now worth visiting every day; the