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

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) spacecraft

SMAP Under Construction: Field trip to the Spacecraft Assembly Facility

Yesterday I enjoyed my second-ever opportunity to suit up and enter the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On display were SMAP, an Earth orbiting radar mission, and ISS-RapidScat, which will perform a different radar experiment from the Space Station.

Solar system montage with eight planets

Comet ISON lives on! (we think...)

For several weeks now, ground-based observers have been blind to Comet ISON as our local star was sitting directly between us and the comet. I am delighted to share two pieces of good news: first, that ISON is still alive and well, and secondly that it has been recovered.

Comet ISON from Deep Impact

Interplanetary eyes on the lookout for comet ISON

Space blogger Daniel Fischer provides a preview of the exciting interplanetary observing campaign that has recently begun to study comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) from vantage points across the solar system.

Earth and Moon from Elektro-L

Beautiful science by Elektro-L

Six months ago, I wrote about the Russian weather satellite Elektro-L, which has more than two years of successful experience in the geostationary orbit. Then I promised that I would be here to share the materials that we collected. I think it's time to deliver on the promise.

Mount Sharp (Mastcam-100 panorama, sol 45)

Curiosity's first year on Mars: Where's the science?

Yesterday was the first anniversary of Curiosity's landing on Mars, and there was much rejoicing. It's been fun to look back at that exciting day, and it's been an opportunity to reflect on what Curiosity has accomplished in her first year. What science do we have to show for it?

Mars Climate Sounder scans the Martian atmosphere

Mysterious tides in the Martian atmosphere

Observations made by the Mars Climate Sounder, an instrument aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have revealed new information about atmospheric tides on the Red Planet.

Mars Exploration Rover

Field Report From Mars: Sol 3385 - August 2, 2013

This week Opportunity finished up a quick investigation of the strange rocky terrain out here in the plains where it is approaching the next mountain rim segment of Endeavour crater, Solander Point.

An Eclipse by Earthlight

Shadowland

Seasons, sunlight, and shadow at the Moon's north pole

Mars Exploration Rover

Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Celebrates Milestones, Arrives at Solander Suburb

The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission Opportunity celebrated the 10th anniversary of its launch on July 7, 2003, and then went on to complete the last leg of its 2 km trek from Cape York to Solander Point. But just before the robot field geologist pulled onto the actual base of the ridge where it will spend its sixth Martian winter, Mars lured the team off the path with some of the weirdest Martian rocks the scientists have seen yet.

Pioneer 10 departs Jupiter (and Io)

Jupiter and Io from Pioneer 10

This is a parting shot of Jupiter and Io, taken December 5, 1973, by the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, the first to see either world as a crescent.

Curiosity view of low ridge and distant foothills of Mount Sharp, sol 343

Keeping up with Curiosity, almost a year after landing

It seems like my attention wandered for just a moment, and all of a sudden Curiosity is really on the road. She's racked up drive after drive, methodically eating up the terrain between here and her goal: the ancient rocks at the foot of Mount Sharp.

Viking 1 approaches Mars

Happy 32! Happy New Mars Year!

They're too far apart to have a party, but today Curiosity and Opportunity could have rung in the New Mars Year. Today Mars reached a solar longitude of zero degrees and the Sun crossed Mars' equator, heralding the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere.

Dawn at Vesta

Dawn Journal: Craving Power

Ion propulsion is not a source of power for Dawn. Rather, the craft needs a great deal of power to operate its ion propulsion system and all other systems. It needs so much that...we crave power!!

ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)

The road to Mars: updates on NASA's MAVEN and India's Mars Orbiter Mission

The 2013 launch window for Mars is fast approaching. November represents the next chance to send spacecraft to the Red Planet; the next window doesn't open until early 2016. So NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are working hard to prepare their respective Mars missions for launch.

Dawn departs Vesta

Terra Cognita

Pushing back the frontier, and filling in the blank spaces on the map.

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