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

Updates from Past Recipients of the Shoemaker NEO Grants (17 August 2005)

Following last year's Potentially Hazardous Asteroid and a few other non-main-belt discoveries, I looked into what improvements I could make to more efficiently image the sky. The major advance involved the design of a 3-lens corrector comprising 2 stock lenses and a custom lens I made myself.

The 2005 Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant Recipients

In 2005, The Planetary Society awarded $32,500 as part of its Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object (NEO) Grant Program. The grants were made to a group of international researchers to find, track, and characterize potentially hazardous NEOs.

A launch delay for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Space Shuttle couldn't land at Kennedy Space Center today because of concerns about weather, so I have been expecting a launch delay to be announced for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Indeed, a 24-hour delay has just been announced; the new launch date is Thursday, August 11 from 7:50 to 9:35 a.m. EDT (11:50 to 13:35 UTC).

A photo of MESSENGER

I was browsing the MESSENGER website just now, and found a neat photo. It's a picture of MESSENGER as seen from Earth when it flew by yesterday.

Cassini tour page revised

Cassini mission planner Dave Seal just gave me the latest reference trajectory for Cassini, so I've gone through and updated the flyby altitudes on the Cassini tour page.

Enceladus is alive!

It's official: Enceladus has joined the rarefied community of Solar System objects that have been caught in the act of making new geology.

A Deep Impact update

We haven't forgotten about Deep Impact, but there's still no word on the crater size.

Volna Failure Review Board Reports on Loss of Cosmos 1

The Volna Failure Review Board convened by the Makeev Rocket Design Bureau, manufacturers of the Volna launch vehicle, has made its final report to the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, concerning the attempted June 21 launch of our Cosmos 1 spacecraft.

A couple cool raw Cassini pics -- and a break in the data

I monitor the Cassini website to keep my eye out for cool pictures, and it's usually relatively easy to figure out what the spacecraft is looking at (rings, moon, Saturn, whatever). Sometimes, though, the images can be very confusing.

Deep Impact Data Surprises Scientists

When Deep Impact crashed into the nucleus of Tempel 1 at 23,000 miles per hour on July 4, it sent a huge, bright cloud of stuff upward and outward from the comet, providing a spectacular image that is already assured a place in the space history books, and may well be seared into the brains of all those who watched the event.

Analyzing Signals in Real Time

Candidate signals sent in by users around the world will be quickly analyzed and compared to existing signals.

Rockin' to Bill Haley and his Comets

There was a stage set up on the steps of the administration building, and the quad in front of it was filled with JPLers of all ages and descriptions. Rick Grammier and Don Yeomans introduced the band -- five guys, all members of the band since 1953 or earlier, still rockin' and rollin'.

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