Blogs & Articles

Phobos-Grunt update; lots of new images and video!

Emily Lakdawalla • October 14, 2011

Фобос-Грунт is getting ready for launch!

While the U.S. Stalls, Europe Moves On to Mars

Charlene Anderson • October 14, 2011

The European Space Agency (ESA) seems to have gotten tired of waiting for NASA to commit to its share of the joint 2016/2018 Mars missions that were planned to lay the groundwork for an eventual delivery of samples of Mars to Earth.

Mars Missions Supported, Planetary Voices Heard

Charlene Anderson • October 13, 2011

It looks like we rattled a few cages in Washington, D.C. this week. White House staffers in the Office of Science and Technology Policy returned from their holiday weekend to find more than 1500 messages from Planetary Society Members waiting for them.

Eris and embargoes (or: don't fear Ingelfinger!)

Emily Lakdawalla • October 12, 2011 •

Last Tuesday at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting Bruno Sicardy presented the results of his research group's observations of a stellar occultation by Eris.

Lovely pic of a recent crater on Vesta

Emily Lakdawalla • October 11, 2011

With little fanfare, the Dawn mission continues releasing a new picture from Vesta every day. This one is definitely my favorite among their recent releases, a closeup on one of Vesta's strange streaky bright craters.

Photos: Preparations for Curiosity's launch proceeding (don't show these to Blofeld!)

Emily Lakdawalla • October 11, 2011

Kennedy Space Center has recently created a photo album collecting their photos from the clean rooms where technicians are working madly to prepare the Curiosity Mars rover for launch.

Fountains of Enceladus in Saturnlit color

Saturnlit moon, sunlit fountains

Emily Lakdawalla • October 07, 2011

It's been a week of very heavy science on this blog, so I thought it'd be nice to go into the weekend with a post in which a breathtaking picture speaks for itself, without needing my thousands of words.

Mars Exploration Endangered by Bureaucratic (In)Action

Charlene Anderson • October 07, 2011

The road to Mars just seems to get longer and harder every day. The Planetary Society has just asked its Members to contact the White House and ask John Holdren, the President's Science Advisor, to make sure that NASA and ESA are allowed to work together on the 2016 and 2018 missions to Mars.