Articles

Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

One month, one journal, so many missed space stories!

Or: Emily reads you the table of contents of Icarus.

Sunrise on Mars

Here is a photo crafted from data that are nearly as old as I am, showing a beautiful sunrise on Mars.

A discontinuous rille on the Moon (Lunar Orbiter view)

Likely candidate for an un-collapsed lava tube

In February, the Chandrayaan-1 science team had a meeting in Ahmedabad, India, to share their results with each other.

Going on vacation

Tomorrow the family heads away from home for three weeks, two weeks of which I plan not to work at all.

Two moons making waves in the rings

Just a pretty picture post, a dramatic Cassini shot on the outer edge of the A ring captured earlier this month.

Lutetia in Rosetta's sights

It's unimpressive now, but in a few weeks the pinpoint of light at the center of this photo of a starry sky will loom very large to Rosetta's cameras.

Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Team Announces Major Water Discovery

Mars Exploration Rover Spirit continued to hibernate this month, parked in place near an old volcanic formation called Home Plate. At the same time though she managed to rove back into the planetary exploration spotlight when a group of the mission scientists announced they had found -- in data from an outcrop the rover visited more than four years ago -- evidence for a past watery environment more suitable for life than any other either Spirit or Opportunity have found, a place where near-pure water existed. 1

Jupiter's faded belt: It's happened before, and it'll happen again

When I wrote a post about Jupiter's missing South Equatorial Belt in May, I had three main questions: how long did it take for the belt to go away, has this happened before, and how can a planet as big as Jupiter change its appearance so quickly?

IKAROS' deployable camera captures perfect sail photos and animation!

We've already seen IKAROS' view of its deployed sails from cameras attached to the spacecraft, but, in a brilliant idea, the Japanese built IKAROS with two deployable cameras that could view the thing from a distance.

Is this SMART-1's impact site?

Speaking of spacecraft crashing...

Amigurumi: How I channeled my adrenaline while watching Hayabusa's return

Covering the events of Hayabusa's return involved a lot of watching and waiting. Rather than go blind staring at my computer and cause carpal tunnel syndrome by excessively clicking the refresh button, I decided to...go blind and develop carpal tunnel syndrome by doing some crocheting.

Hayabusa's sample return capsule sitting on the ground

Hayabusa update: Capsule retrieved, heat shield found

The major news on the Hayabusa mission this morning is that JAXA has retrieved the sample capsule!

Hayabusa brought back to JAXA's Control Center at Woomera

Hayabusa update: First step for sample capsule return to Japan

Here are a few photos from a Flickr gallery from the Australian Science Media Centre documenting the Hayabusa sample capsule's first step in its journey from Australia to Sagamihara, Japan, where it will arrive on Friday.

Hayabusa sample return capsule sitting in the Woomera desert, Australia

Hayabusa sample capsule photographed on the ground in Australia

Oh my wonderful little flying saucer, you have been to an asteroid and back -- and you were burning like a star last night! And there you are, sitting quietly in the desert, just waiting to be retrieved...

Hayabusa's return: a review

Hayabusa's return: round up some of the amazing photos, movies, and artworks that were posted and shared and Tweeted and re-Tweeted over the previous dozen hours or so.

Welcome home, Hayabusa!

At 13:51 UTC, the Hayabusa spacecraft -- having traveled to an asteroid and back, surviving countless challenges-- broke up into a fiery meteor over the midnight, midwinter Australian sky.

3QD Finalist!

It looks like my MSL: Mars Action Hero post is a finalist in the 3 Quarks Daily science blogging contest. The winners will be chosen by none other than Richard Dawkins.