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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Countdown to the Next NASA Discovery Mission Selection
If NASA’s managers hold to their schedule, we will learn sometime this month what NASA’s next planetary mission will be.
European Space Agency Announces Budgetary Commitments
ESA has committed to continuing its ExoMars programme and participation with the International Space Station, but cut funding for its Asteroid Impact Mission.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Departs Spirit Mound, Embarks on Toughest Exit Ever
Opportunity worked along Endeavour Crater's western rim through November, taking pictures, hiking slopes, and finishing work in the depths of Cape Tribulation.
Dawn Journal: Maneuvering for Science
Dawn is completing another elegant spiral around dwarf planet Ceres, maneuvering to its sixth science orbit. Chief Engineer and Mission Manager Marc Rayman brings us his latest update.
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: The Space Between
Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares some of his beautiful photos showcasing interstellar phenomena.
Schiaparelli investigation update; crash site in color from HiRISE
ESA issued an update on the Schiaparelli landing investigation today, identifying a problem reading from an inertial measurement unit as the proximate cause of the crash. Meanwhile, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is operating its science instruments for the first time this week, and HiRISE has released calibrated versions of the Schiaparelli crash site images.
Subsurface Water Ice in Utopia Planitia, Mars
Martian radar expert Cassie Stuurman explains how the SHARAD instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was used to detect buried ice deposits.
HiRISE coverage of the Opportunity field site, version 1.0
As she did before for Curiosity, Emily Lakdawalla has searched through the HiRISE image archive for photos of the Opportunity landing site and sorted them all out so that you don't have to.
Spektr-RG sees (x-ray) light at the end of the tunnel
After many years of development, a cutting-edge Russian-German space observatory with little-known contribution from the US is finally approaching the launch pad...or so its scientists say.
GOES-R: A GOES Primer
The current GOES-East and GOES-West have been faithfully providing continuous imagery and data on Earth and space weather for almost a decade. So, with the launch of the first of the next generation of GOES satellites, GOES-R, what is NOAA trying to accomplish?
Great whirling Jupiter
Damian Peach's marvelous Jupiter photography, endlessly rotating in GIF form.
Serene Saturn (or the “Glutton for Punishment” mosaic)
A week ago Saturday I decided -- against my better judgment -- to tackle this monster of a mosaic. I call it the
Rosetta in the Rearview: What Have We Learned?
Just over a month ago the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft finished its mission by spectacularly diving into the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. How did it observations influence and alter our ideas about the typical formation and lifetime of a comet?
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Scales Spirit Mound, Takes Shot at Schiaparelli
Opportunity spent the month of October on Spirit Mound studying the rich yet familiar geology at the first science stop on its 10th extended mission – pausing only to take a shot at freeze-framing part of the descent of Europe’s Schiaparelli lander.
Capturing Martian Weather in Motion
Still images of Mars often give a false impression that Mars is a dead planet—but time-lapse imaging from the European Mars Express spacecraft reveals the planet as it really is.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 4535 - October 26, 2016
Opportunity is currently finishing up observations of its first outcrop target of its 10th extended mission plan.
What's up in the solar system, November 2016 edition: Cassini takes a leap, ExoMars starts science, Long March 5 launch
Cassini is going to make a major change to its orbit, getting much close to Saturn, setting up 20
Dawn Journal: 5th Mapping Orbit
Dawn just completed another successful observation campaign at Ceres from its latest mapping orbit. Mission Director and Chief Engineer Marc Rayman brings us his monthly update.
Dynamics of Exoplanet Systems
At this year’s Division for Planetary Sciences/European Planetary Science Congress meeting, the Exoplanet Dynamics session was packed full of talks on tightly-packed multi-planet systems and their instabilities.
Schiaparelli crash site imaged by HiRISE
Following up the detection of the Schiaparelli crash site by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CTX, the higher-resolution HiRISE camera has now definitively identified the locations of lander impact site, parachute with backshell, and heat shield impact site on the Martian surface.



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