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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Planetary Radio: Ten Years A Roving: The Mars Exploration Rovers
This week's show looks back over ten years of exploration by Spirit and Opportunity. Writer A.J.S. Rayl recounts the challenges encountered early in the mission, and how an outstanding team triumphed.
Chang'e 3 update with lots of pictures: Yutu begins lunar journey
There was a lot of action on Chang'e 3 over the weekend! I have lots of pictures to share, including the highest-quality one I've seen of the rover on the surface, plus video of the rover making tracks on the Moon and a 3D view of the lander.
Habitability, Taphonomy, and Curiosity's Hunt for Organic Carbon
Lots of people ask questions about how the Curiosity mission, and future missions, will forge ahead to begin with looking for evidence of past life on Mars. There is nothing simple or straightforward about looking for life.
Chang'e 3 and LADEE updates: Yutu active again, LADEE didn't detect landing
Chinese state television broadcast a display of a Chang'e 3 lander image; the Yutu rover is awake; and LADEE reports a surprising non-detection of the Chang'e 3 landing.
Curiosity update, sols 465-487: Wheel inspection, software upgrade, Cumberland dump
Curiosity activities over sols 465 to 487 included monitoring the condition of the wheels; a flight software upgrade; and dumping the Cumberland drill sample. Curiosity put approximately 200 meters on the odometer during this period.
An Updated Mars Exploration Family Portrait
The Mars Exploration Family Portrait shows every dedicated spacecraft mission to Mars, and now includes India's Mars Orbiter Mission and NASA's MAVEN.
Cosmos with Cosmos Episode 8: Journeys Through Space and Time
Sagan makes us confront the limitations of our mortality given the immensities of space and time presented to us by the cosmos.
Conversations with an interplanetary spacecraft: "Hi, Juno!"
Juno's Earth flyby represented the first opportunity for many of the science instruments to be used on a planetary target. There were terrific photos of Earth and the Moon, plus a cool project to see if Juno could detect intelligent life on Earth.
Chang'e 3 update: 6 instruments active, new fan-produced landing video
Today there was a lengthy press briefing by several members of the Chang'e 3 science team. A complete transcript was posted in Chinese. I have run it through two machine translators and found it to be quite informative, not just about the mission but also about attitudes about Chinese space exploration and foreign cooperation. I also have a cool fan-produced video to share.
Destination: Europa!
It's time to reassess Europa exploration, past, present and future. The Destination Europa! session at AGU, inspired by the eponymous website and movement, didn't take exactly that message as its theme, but it's what I got from the presentations. What an ELECTRIFYING meeting this has been for Europa exploration!
Color photo of Yutu rover and Chang'e lander, and more on the Chang'e 3 landing site
Fresh off of Chinese state television are lovely pictures taken by Chang'e 3 lander and rover of each other!
Amazing Chang'e 3 descent video
Watch and enjoy this full video of Chang'e 3's descent onto the lunar surface.
Chang'e 3 has successfully landed on the Moon!
Transmitting images all the way down, China's Chang'e 3 lander successfully arrived on the lunar surface at 13:11:18 -- half an hour before the scheduled landing time. Rover deploy is set for a few hours later.
Six wheels on soil for Yutu!
Here it is! Animated gifs, composed of screen grabs from Chinese state television, of the Yutu rover rolling on to the lunar surface. This was a replay, but it was no less thrilling for that; the actual rollout happened at 20:40 UT (12:40 PT). Six wheels on soil! Woohoo!
Chang'e 3 landing tomorrow 13:40 UT, earlier than previously reported
According to numerous Chinese news reports, Chang'e 3's landing on the Moon is now scheduled to begin at 21:40 Beijing time on December 14, which is 13:40 UT or 05:40 PT. That's about two hours earlier than previously stated.
Europa: No Longer a "Should," But a "Must"
We've waited long enough, Europa cries out for exploration and discovery. It's time to heed that cry.
Watch this with your kids: Asteroid Fact versus Fiction
A cute video from the OSIRIS-REx mission in the style of
The Plumes of Europa
2013 has been a rather exciting year for Europa scientists. Today's exciting news: the Hubble Space Telescope discovery of water vapor plumes from the south pole of this icy moon.
A Tale of Two Posters: Sediment on Mars and Searching Jupiter's Rings
A close look at two international planetary science poster presentations from the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting featuring sediment experiments to better understand Martian geomorphology and Juno's plans for exploring Jupiter's ring system.
Quick Chang'e 3 and Mars Orbiter Mission updates
Yesterday Chang'e 3 lowered its orbit periapsis to a mere 15 kilometers, and Mars Orbiter Mission successfully performed a trajectory correction maneuver.