Articles

Jason Davis

SpaceX moved closer to spaceflight history last night as their Falcon 9 rocket rose from its launch pad, sending the Dragon capsule on a journey to berth with the International Space Station.

David Shortt

The upcoming rare transit of Venus is one step in a long dance among Earth, Venus and the Sun. Transits of Venus follow a peculiar pattern—two transits 8 years apart, then 105.5 years with no transits, then two transits 8 years apart, then 121.5 years with no transits, for a total cycle of 243 years—and thereby hangs a tale.

Emily Lakdawalla

Cassini obtained its first high-resolution images of Methone on May 20, 2012. Methone is one of the smallest regular moons of Saturn, having a diameter of only about 3 kilometers. It was the first moon that Cassini discovered, very early in Cassini's mission at Saturn, in 2004.

Jason Davis

The launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule was aborted last night a half-second before liftoff, due to abnormally high pressure readings in engine number five.

Emily Lakdawalla

Image magician Daniel Machacek has done it again, producing a jaw-dropping view of Mars from Viking Orbiter 1, featuring a frosty Argyre basin and stretching across to a series of faults called Thaumasia Fossae.

Jason Davis

This Saturday, SpaceX will attempt to make history by launching the first commercial spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station.

Emily Lakdawalla

Here's a neat video posted by SungrazerComets (the Twitter identity of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Sungrazing Comets website) this morning.

Emily Lakdawalla

How to enjoy a solar eclipse with your kids, making shadow magic with a pinhole viewer.

David Kass

May 16, 2012 is the third martian anniversary of the start of Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) observations from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. MCS started measuring the atmosphere of Mars three Mars years ago, on September 24, 2006. We can now compare the weather and behavior of the atmosphere in three different years, and find the temperature differences to be surprisingly large.

Mike Malaska

The surface of Mars is a tough place to survive, but researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) found some lichens and cyanobacteria tough enough to handle those conditions.

Emily Lakdawalla

I took a field trip to watch scientists and engineers play in the sand with Mars rover models, and got a bonus tour of some evidence for the

Stuart Atkinson

After driving off Greeley Haven – where she stood patiently for 19 long weeks – Opportunity is now driving again. Not just turning, not just bumping, but driving.

Ray Sanders

This summer should provide great opportunities for stargazers to view planets, meteor showers, the transit of Venus, and for some, the annular solar eclipse. Check out these highlights of what you can look forward to this summer.

Jennifer Vaughn

On May 8, 2012, Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson brought their unique brand of motivational speaking to Capitol Hill. In a standing-room-only lunch discussion in one of the meeting rooms for the Committee on Space, Science, Technology, these two space superstars, along with planetary scientist Louise Prockter, explained to members of Congress, staffers, and media why we must continue to invest in planetary exploration.

Emily Lakdawalla

Emily Lakdawalla is ready to launch to space with Shuttle astronaut Mike Massimino, who guest-starred (as an astronaut, of course) on the fifth season finale of the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory.

Emily Lakdawalla

Watch a conversation I had with planetary astronomer Britney Schmidt about Europa and the current state of outer planets exploration! Also, bonus video of an earlier hangout with Robbie Herrick.

Bruce Betts

Evidence continues to pile up that the Rio Vichada structure in Colombia is indeed the largest impact structure in South America.

Ted Stryk

To celebrate ESA's selection of the JUICE mission to Jupiter, Ted Stryk produced a new global view of Europa from Galileo data.

Emily Lakdawalla

Cassini performed its last of three close encounters with Enceladus for 2012 two days ago, and followed the flyby with some spectacular images of Dione.

Emily Lakdawalla

Grab your red-blue 3D glasses and dive in to this small but spectacular unnamed lunar crater as seen in a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photo.