Articles

Marc Rayman

Dawn's checkout phase continues to go very well. The spacecraft is healthy as it and Earth travel their separate ways, separating at almost 1 light second per day.

Marc Rayman

Joining an elite club among spacecraft, Dawn successfully fired up its xenon ion propulsion system on October 6.

Marc Rayman

The Dawn project welcomes you to deep space! Dawn is operating smoothly on the fourth day of its eight-year adventure.

Ken Kremer

At 7:34 a.m. EDT the Delta II Heavy roared off launch pad 17 B at Cape Canaveral with a brilliant flash of glowing orange light and billowing white smoke.

Marc Rayman

The countdown is underway for Dawn's liftoff on September 26 at 7:25:00 am EDT. This is the second time our hero has been within a few days of launch.

Marc Rayman

Now less than two weeks from its planned September 26 launch, Dawn is eagerly awaiting the beginning of its fantastic adventure.

Marc Rayman

NASA is preparing (again) to bring Dawn to the Florida skies as all systems are gearing up for a September 26 launch.

Marc Rayman

There are two ways for a spacecraft to leave its launch pad: climbing on a blazing tower of powerful flames accompanied by a thunderous announcement of its departure or suspended securely and gently on the crane that hoisted it there in the first place.

Marc Rayman

The countdown is underway for Dawn's liftoff on July 8 at 4:04:49 pm EDT.

Marc Rayman

Just after the previous log was posted, further predictions of poor weather at Cape Canaveral and difficulties with a downrange launch vehicle tracking system required a launch postponement.

Marc Rayman

Now only two weeks away from its planned launch, Dawn is eagerly awaiting the beginning of its cosmic adventure.

Emily Lakdawalla

This amazing view was captured by the CIVA camera on Rosetta's Philae lander just four minutes before its closest approach to Mars on February 25, 2007. The spacecraft was only 1,000 kilometers above the planet.

Emily Lakdawalla

New Horizons' Jupiter encounter is officially underway!

Emily Lakdawalla

The audience was rapt as Project Manager Jun'ichiro Kawaguchi stood up to give an introduction to the Hayabusa spacecraft and described the saga of the mission to date.

Emily Lakdawalla

Hayabusa has been riding an incredible wave of luck lately, resulting in the dramatic success of the sample grab last week. But it looks as though Hayabusa's luck may be running out.

Emily Lakdawalla

Remember how Hayabusa was virtually still for 30 minutes? JAXA is now saying that Hayabusa actually touched down -- and more than that, they may even have a sample.

Emily Lakdawalla

Hayabusa reached an altitude of about 560 meters above Hayabusa at 17:30 UTC. And at 18:00 UTC they are at 500 meters. This is still farther above the asteroid than the asteroid is big...there is still a long way to go before Hayabusa touches down...

Emily Lakdawalla

If I understand the various sources(and my somewhat vague memory) correctly, it now appears that Earth has rotated far enough to take the Deep Space Network station at Goldstone, through which Hayabusa has been transmitting, out of line with Hayabusa.

Emily Lakdawalla

In a further update on Hayabusa's status, we have been contacted by Kazuya Yoshida of the Space Robotics Laboratory at Tohuku University. Yoshida reports that the touchdown is now planned to take place

Emily Lakdawalla

There has been a delay of just about a day in JAXA's plans for landing Hayabusa on Itokawa.