All
All
Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Crazy Far
Louis Friedman discusses what he expects to be the future of space exploration. According to him, it won't be in manned missions, but in remote, virtual exploration available to anybody.
Fly me to the Moon
Video views shot by two doomed spacecraft take us flying across the Moon.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3182-3188 - January 6-11, 2013
We finished up with examination of the big outcrop (
The raw data behind an Earth-like exoplanet
Taking a closer look at KOI 172.02, a super-Earth exoplanet sitting in its solar system's habitable zone.
Shoemaker Winner Hug Discovers Near Earth Asteroid 2013 AS27
Using a Planetary Society provided camera, Gary Hug in Kansas, USA discovered Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2013 AS27 on Jan. 7, 2013. Shoemaker winner Bob Holmes provided the first follow up observations of this 140m-310m wide asteroid.
Planetary Society Hangout: Jan 10th, 2013 - AAS Coverage with Astronomer Meg Schwamb
Join Casey Dreier and Emily Lakdawalla as they are joined by Dr. Meg Schwamb from Yale University. They will discuss the latest announcements from the American Astronomical Society 2013 conference and Dr. Schwamb's research in outer solar system bodies.
New Details on the 2020 Mars Rover
The 2020 Rover will achieve its cost-savings by using $200 million of existing hardware left over from the Curiosity mission, said the Director of the Planetary Science division within NASA.
Report from AAS: Exoplanets (and exo-asteroids, and exo-comets) everywhere
This year's American Astronomical Society meeting featured tons and tons of news on exoplanets. They're everywhere! And not just planets, but also asteroids, comets, and more....
Curiosity's Scoop Campaign, a Summary
Stephen Kuhn is the CHIMRA and the scoop systems lead on the Curiosity rover. He explains what the team was doing at Rocknest, and why it took so long!
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Zeroes In on Clay Minerals and We Look Back on 2012
Despite the lull of the holidays, the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission recorded one of the expedition's best months ever in December as Opportunity and her team confirmed the location of the smectite clay minerals on Matijevic Hill, effectively grabbing the scientific brass ring they came hoping to find at Endeavour Crater.
Can you find a new planet?
A change in the Kepler data delivery process provides both scientists and the public to get involved in planet discovery.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout, Thu Jan 3 1200PT/2000UT: Jim Bell
Join Emily Lakdawalla and Casey Dreier for a chat with Jim Bell, a scientist who wears many hats. He's the team lead for the Pancam color cameras on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers; he's a member of the Curiosity science team; and he's the esteemed President of the Planetary Society's Board of Directors. We'll talk about the great science being done by both Curiosity and Opportunity, and about what's in store for the future.
Dawn Journal: Faraway Viewing Through the Mind's Eye
As Dawn treks onward to Ceres, its path will cross within a few degrees of the moon as seen from Earth on Jan. 21–22.
Pretty picture: Jupiter photo from an unusual source
A recently launched Earth-observing satellite is using the stars to practice its pointing, and caught a neat animation of Jupiter.
Who is the photographer behind Mars rover photos? Answer from Mark Lemmon
A Mars imaging scientist answers the question: who is the
Planetary Radio Live Celebrates Curiosity/Truly Haute Cuisine!
Listen to or watch the webcast recorded Saturday, December 15th with MSL Project Manager Richard Cook and Project Scientist John Grotzinger. Bonus: enjoy a neat little French animation.
Mars Express VMC resumes raw data posting
ESA brought Mars Express' VMC back online in May, but hasn't been posting the images. This week, they launched a new process to release VMC images automatically to a Flickr page.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout, Thu Dec 20 1200PT/2000UT: Making Titan in the laboratory with Sarah Hörst
Join us for our weekly Google+ Hangout Thursday at noon PT / 2000 UT. This week, I'm excited to have as a guest Sarah Hörst. Sarah is a postdoc at the University of Colorado whose current line of research involves experimental work on the complex atmospheric chemistry of Titan. She is also applying to be an astronaut!
My ever-popular asteroids-and-comets montage, now in color, with bonus Toutatis
My collage of all the asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft is probably the single most popular image I have ever posted on this blog. I've now updated it to be in color and to include Toutatis.
Watch Planetary Radio LIVE on Saturday!
Watch the live show at 2pm Pacific on Saturday, December 15 to see Bill Nye, Emily Lakdawalla and the leaders of the Mars Science Laboratory rover mission.



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