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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
The Santorini panorama
A tip of the hat to Ryan over at Martian Chronicles for posting this lovely version of the Santorini panorama, which Opportunity captured just before Mars dipped too close to the Sun in late November of last year.
Spirit moved!
Hallelujah! For the first time in almost an Earth year, amateur mars mapper Eduardo Tesheiner is able to scratch a tiny little line on his map of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's peregrinations across Gusev Crater.
I am totally hooked on Scott Maxwell's new Mars Exploration Rover blog
Scott Maxwell is one of those many guys (and gals) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who rarely gets his name in the news but who is absolutely indispensable to the success of a space mission. I don't know what his official title is, but whatever it is, it's not as good as the colloquial name given to his position: Rover Driver.
The Antarctic search for meteorites: not for the impatient
The team makes progress while facing extreme weather conditions.
Five Years of Spirit on Mars
On January 3, 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed on Mars, and I was with the science team at JPL when it happened! I can't believe it's been five years since the successful landing.
A Moon Among Stars
A very pretty picture of a moon among stars. Happy 2009, everyone!
The Antarctic search for meteorites: put-in at last; week of productive searches
A week of productive searching near the Davis Nunataks.
The Antarctic search for meteorites: more waiting; runway's ready; ralph goes home
As the team waits, the runway is finished, and Ralph makes an exit.
The Antarctic search for meteorites: waiting
The team is delayed for a week in McMurdo.
The Antarctic search for meteorites: preparations
The team arrives in Antarctica to prepare for the expedition.
MSL Launch Delayed by Two Years
As I post this, NASA is holding a press conference in which they are announcing that the Mars Science Laboratory's launch date will be slipped by two years.
MSL Press Conference Notes
Mike Griffin started the press conference, and got right down to business announcing the launch delay and indicating that the actuators as well as other technical problems are responsible.
MSL Press Conference Tomorrow
At 12 noon EST. I know what the announcement is, but I'm not allowed to tell you! How frustrating is that?!
The Antarctic search for meteorites: in Christchurch, New Zealand
The rest of ANSMET's team are in Christchurch after a long, long session of travel.
The Antarctic search for meteorites: introduction
ANSMET will post blog entires on their research during their 33rd field season.
Sample Return Cache on MSL Canceled!
I just heard, via this article at Universe Today, that the sample cache on MSL has been canceled.
Solar conjunction: Holidays for Mars missions, and an Opportunity update
The period of Mars solar conjunction has just begun, which means that a host of scientists and engineers whose day jobs entail interaction with the five active Mars spacecraft are getting a five-week break from the daily grind of operations.
MSL Landing Sites Narrowed to Four
I've known about this for a little while but it was finally made public: The list of MSL landing sites had now been trimmed to four.
High dust levels are making life tough for Spirit
There was a worrying update posted on the JPL website for Spirit today: an early-season dust storm has darkened its skies enough that its solar panels produced only 89 watt-hours of power yesterday, sol 1,725. Neither rover has ever, ever seen power production levels that low, not even during last year's massive dust storm.
The Antarctic search for meteorites: who's going, and where we are going
A summary of the 2008-2009 expedition team, and where they will go to hunt meteorites.