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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Dawn Journal: Thrusting to a new personal best
Traveling from one alien world to another, Dawn is reliably powering its way through the main asteroid belt with its ion propulsion system. Vesta falls farther and farther behind as the spacecraft gently and patiently reshapes its orbit around the sun, aiming for a 2015 rendezvous with dwarf planet Ceres.
Planetary Resources' Crowdfunded Space Telescope
A fan-funded space telescope, usable by the public? It's an awesome idea, and it appears that a wide swath of the public agrees. Planetary Resources, headed by president and chief engineer Chris Lewicki, announced a Kickstarter project yesterday, with the goal of raising $1 million toward one of their ARKYD space telescopes.
Finding faces and animals on Mars
This week's
Say "hi!" to asteroid -- actually, asteroids -- (285263) 1998 QE2
A large asteroid is passing reasonably close to Earth in a few hours, and astronomers at the great radio telescopes at Goldstone and Arecibo are zapping it. The latest discovery: QE2, like many asteroids, is a binary.
Implementing Missions Within Budget�Good News
Last decade, cost overruns on a number of planetary missions stretched NASA's budget. Recent missions have stayed within budget, but the cost of fiscal discipline may mean staying close to home.
Express Soyuz sends new crew to station
Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano lifted off in their Soyuz TMA-09M at 4:31 p.m. EDT and arrived at the International Space Station six hours later.
Lesser-known views of Uranus and Neptune
Despite the fact that Voyager 2 returned relatively few high-resolution images from either Uranus or Neptune, there are many more photos in the archives than regularly make it to public view.
The Shores of the Kraken Sea: Great Place Names in the Solar System
Nothing reflects the romance of deep space exploration more than the evocative names of places on the planets and moons.
Astronomy Enters a New Era
A live conversation about just a few of the powerful new instruments that will revolutionize our knowledge of the cosmos once again.
Mars Exploration Rovers Special Update: Opportunity's Findings at Endeavour, So Far
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity left Cape York on May 14th and embarked on a 2-kilometer journey south along the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is heading now to Solander Point, where it will spend the coming Martian winter.
Friday fun: Every moon in the solar system in an homage to Tom Lehrer
A girl named Hope Johnson performing an homage to Tom Lehrer's
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3317- May 24, 2013
Opportunity finally started driving south from its location on the outcrop where it had been since solar conjunction.
Statement from the AAS on Proposed Elimination of NASA Science Education & Public Outreach Programs
The American Astronomical Society has issued a strongly worded statement against NASA's proposed elimination of its education and public outreach programs, and I agree with it.
Asteroids – what you can do
Partnering with our friends from The Planetary Society, the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), whose members hail from all over the globe, is bringing you an update on our activities and something you can join in on—at least if you are a student or young professional aged 18–35.
Report from the Starship Century Conference: Tuesday
This week Jon Lomberg is attending the Starship Century conference, which brings together scientists, writers, and futurists to imagine the future of interstellar travel. Here he reports on presentations by Freeman Dyson, Peter Schwartz, Robert Zubrin, Geoff Landis, Neal Stephenson, and Patti Grace Smith.
Planetary Science Echoes Through the Halls of Congress
The Planetary Society just returned from a big trip to Washington, D.C. to advocate for continued planetary exploration. Here's what happened.
India's Mars Orbiter Mission update: six months from launch
A couple of articles on India's Mars Orbiter Mission were published on the news website The Week yesterday, and they're much more in-depth and insightful than the norm.
Report from the Starship Century Conference: Monday
This week Jon Lomberg is attending the Starship Century conference, which brings together scientists, writers, and futurists to imagine the future of interstellar travel. The organizers are Greg and Jim Benford, and among the attendees are: David Brin, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge, Joe Haldeman, Alan Steele, Geoffrey Landis, Freeman Dyson, Jill Tarter, Paul Davies, Nalaka Gunawardene, and Daniel Richter.
Opportunity and Curiosity updates: Rolling and drilling and a little wear on the wheels
For most of April, while Mars scuttled behind the Sun as seen from Earth, both Mars rovers were pretty inactive. Now that conjunction has ended, both are doing what rovers should be doing: roving and exploring. As of sol 3312 Opportunity had moved more than 300 meters southward toward Solander Point, while on her sol 279 Curiosity drilled at a second site, Cumberland.