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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Beyond Apollo: Where Next in Space?
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Planetary Society founder Lou Friedman argue that it is time for humans to go beyond the Moon.
Apollo Plus 40
The editors of the site, Nature, have begun their ApolloPlus40 blog.
Aloha, Io
Taking a look at Jupiter's moon, Io, from Hawaii.
Designing the Cassini Tour
Each Titan flyby is not a fork in the road, but rather a Los Angeles style cloverleaf in terms of the dizzying number of possible destinations. So how did our current and future plans for the path of the Cassini spacecraft come to be? That's the question Dave Seal put to me since that's my job -- I am a tour designer.
Canto III: Hints of Equinox
Saturn is rapidly approaching equinox, where the Sun passes through the ring plane (south-to-north, i.e. the northern vernal equinox), and its ring system (i.e. its great now-gloomy poorly-lit circles of large blocks of water ice) is starting to show some really interesting behavior.
Canto II: Titan's Atmosphere and the Solar Cycle
David Seal explains the complications for Cassini coming from Titan's atmosphere and Solar Cycle.
Connections
David Seal muses on his time as the mission planner for Cassini, and the history behind its name, and astronomy in Rome.
Looking at Mars with the MRO CTX
Looking at Mars with the MRO CTX
Water and the Curiosity Landing Site Candidates
Water and the Curiosity Landing Site Candidates
MSL is a Curiosity
Well, it looks like the next-generation rover that will be launching to Mars in 2011 (and happens to be the focal point of my PhD thesis) just got a name!
The Martian Craters Asimov and Danielson
The Martian Craters Asimov and Danielson
Mars: "Follow the Water" Is Not Dead
Sometimes it is a bit awkward being a planetary scientist.
Farewell to Hubble, Obama Calls, Astronauts Testify to Congress as Shuttle is Set to Land
Farewell to Hubble, Obama Calls, Astronauts Testify to Congress as Shuttle is Set to Land
Celebrate Apollo 11's 40th Anniversary with the Crew
This summer, the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. will commemorate that extraordinary moment in history with a very special Apollo 11 celebration, featuring the mission's original crew members along with former Johnson Space Center Director Chris Kraft.
Ever Plan Ahead? How About Six Years Ahead?
Despite still being more than six years and just over 18 Astronomical Units from the Pluto system, the project team for New Horizons is conducting the second and final portion of our Pluto Encounter Preliminary Design Review (EPDR) tomorrow and the next day.
Exciting Times Ahead: 2010 Will Sizzle, and 2011 Will Really Cook!
Today, I'm kicking the week off with a look at the unusually intense confluence of far flung planetary exploration that's just around the corner, starting the middle of next year.
An Auspicious Week for Astronomy
On Monday, if all goes well, we will launch the Space Shuttle to rejuvenate one the greatest scientific missions launched on or off the Earth: the Hubble Space Telescope.
Fly me to the Moon...
Jim Bell describes his proposal to join the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Cameras science team.
Updates on the 2007 Shoemaker NEO Grant Recipients (27 April 2009)
Our 2007 Shoemaker NEO Grant winners have been extremely busy over the past two years. Take for example Quanzhi Ye of Guangzhou, China: He was only 18 when he received the award but already the principal investigator of the sky survey at the Lulin Observatory in Taiwan.
Pretty Dunes in Gale Crater
This is a tiny subframe from the HiRISE image PSP_009294_1750.