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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Logs Sol 4000, Digs Spirit of St. Louis Crater
After investigating some flat, light and dark toned rocks around Spirit of St. Louis Crater in April, Opportunity chalked up another milestone achievement – the 4000th sol or Martian day of surface operations.
Mars Exploration Rovers Special Update: MERathon Celebrates Opportunity's Marathon
MER mission ops team members joined other engineers and scientists, some who previously worked on the MER mission, to take on the challenge of a relay marathon to celebrate Opportunity's milestone achievement.
Artist's Drive: A Sol 950 Colorized Postcard
Amateur image processor Damia Bouic shares the process behind creating stunning panoramas with Curiosity images.
Curiosity update, sols 896-949: Telegraph Peak, Garden City, and concern about the drill
Since I last wrote about Curiosity drilling at Pink Cliffs, the rover has visited and studied two major sites, drilling at one of them. It has also suffered a short in the drill percussion mechanism that presents serious enough risk to warrant a moratorium on drill use until engineers develop a plan to continue to operate it safely.
Field Report from Mars: Sol 3978 - April 3, 2015
Larry Crumpler gives an update on Opportunity's exploration of Mars as it approaches the entrance to Marathon Valley.
Mars, In Depth
See the latest three-dimensional landscapes captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Finishes First Marathon on Another Planet and Roves On
On March 24, 2015, after spending several weeks investigating some new rock types along the western rim of Endeavour Crater, Opportunity roved past 42.2 kilometers (26.2 miles) and put the first off-Earth marathon in her rear view mirror, driving the Mars Exploration Rovers mission back into the space history books.
Field Report from Mars: Sol 3971 - March 26, 2015
Opportunity reaches a marathon milestone—in more ways than one. Larry Crumpler reports on the current status of the seemingly unstoppable Mars rover.
LPSC 2015: Aeolian Processes on Mars and Titan
Planetary scientist Nathan Bridges reports on results from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference about the action of wind on the surfaces of Mars and Titan.
Is the Opportunity Rover a Mission 'Whose Time Has Passed'?
The NASA Administrator declared that the Opportunity rover is a mission 'whose time has passed' and will be defunded next year. Will Congress act to save it?
A Sky Full of Stars
In pictures of the planets, the stars aren't usually visible. But when they do appear, they're spectacular.
Mini mission updates: Dawn in orbit; Curiosity short circuit; Rosetta image release; Hayabusa2 in cruise phase; and more
Dawn has successfully entered orbit at Ceres, becoming the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet and the first to orbit two different bodies beyond Earth. I also have updates on Curiosity, Rosetta, Mars Express, Hayabusa2, the Chang'e program, InSIGHT, and OSIRIS-REx.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Discovers New Rock Type, Updates Flight Software
From the discovery of a new rock type to a successful flight software upload that should enable the robot field geologist to regain her long-term, flash memory, Opportunity and her team delivered what turned out to be a hugely productive and memorable 133rd month on the Red Planet.
Mars Orbiter Mission Methane Sensor for Mars is at work
After several months of near-silence, ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission has released on Facebook the first data product from its Methane Sensor For Mars. Don't get too excited about methane yet: there is no positive or negative detection. The news here is that the Methane Sensor for Mars is working, systematically gathering data. They also released several new photos of Mars.
Clouds and Chasmata
New landscapes from Mars Express.
Curiosity update, sols 864-895: Drilling at Pink Cliffs
Curiosity's second drilling campaign at the foot of Mount Sharp is complete. The rover spent about a month near Pink Cliffs, an area at the base of the Pahrump Hills outcrop, drilling and documenting a site named Mojave, where lighter-colored crystals were scattered through a very fine-grained rock.
FOIA Request Sheds Light on NASA Mission Extension Process
A FOIA request offers insight into NASA's planetary science extended mission review process, which seems, at best, confusing, and at worst—with adjectival ratings like “Very Good/Good”—arbitrary.
Mars Orbiter Mission images Mars' moons, including the far side of Deimos
Today I'm excited to show you some previously unreleased images from Mars Orbiter Mission, containing Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Completes 11th Year of Surface Operations!
On January 24th, something wonderful happened on Mars. Opportunity completed her 11th year of exploring the surface of the Red Planet! The veteran rover couldn't exactly go to Disneyland to celebrate this amazing achievement, so she did what she loves to do – roved on.
Flawed Beauties
More examples of imperfect--but tantalizing--images from deep space.