Explore Worlds
Find Life
Defend Earth
All
All
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
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!
Dawn Journal: Testing Flight Software 8.0
Dawn's mission continues to go very well, as the spacecraft nears the end of the longest coasting period of its astronomical journey.
Mars: "Follow the Water" Is Not Dead
Sometimes it is a bit awkward being a planetary scientist.
Atlantis and Crew Return Safely to Earth after Rejuvenating Hubble
Space Shuttle Atlantis and her crew of 7 astronauts glided in to a smooth and triumphant touchdown today, Sunday, May 24.
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
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.
Spirit Stuck
The Spirit rover on Mars is currently stuck in a patch of loose material. After a few attempts to get free, the team has wisely decided to do further experiments on Earth instead of on Mars.
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.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Endures Reboots and Amnesia, Opportunity Races Forward
The Mars Exploration Rovers challenged their ground crews with an April full of high drama, a little suspense, and a lot of energy. While Spirit lived through a kind of robot soap opera, complete with bewildering reboots and bouts of amnesia, Opportunity roved forward and back into the fast lane on a restored front wheel, slowing down for a brief visit to a series of small, intriguing craters and an unplanned close encounter with a pesky little purgatoid.
Dawn Journal: Upgrades!
The upgraded Dawn spacecraft is now traveling in a new direction in its orbit around the Sun.
Pretty Dunes in Gale Crater
This is a tiny subframe from the HiRISE image PSP_009294_1750.
Spirit hiccup
Another of those dreaded
Dawn Journal: Safe Without Safe Mode
Perhaps what is most noteworthy and satisfying since the last log is not what Dawn did, but rather what it did not do.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Breaks Rove Record, Opportunity Sees Endeavour's Distant Rim
The Mars Exploration Rovers logged a memorable March, with Spirit finally making some serious tracks and setting a new driving record for a five-wheeled rover, and Opportunity getting a first glimpse on the distant horizon of its next big attraction, Endeavour Crater as it crossed a geologic boundary into a new field of
Spirit puts the pedal to the metal
Way to go, Spirit! The last two drives for the five-wheeled rover have taken it a total of about 40 meters west, traveling around the north edge of Home Plate. If I'm not mistaken, that's more than Spirit has driven in the last 400 sols combined.
Give MSL a Real Name!
The voting has begun to give the Mars Science Laboratory a genuine, non-acronym name!