Seeing the old in a new light

Space Snapshot

This week, NASA’s Perseverance rover set the record for distance driven on another world. On Oct. 11, it took this photo after surpassing the distance driven by NASA's Opportunity rover, which traveled 45.16 kilometers (28.06 miles) on Mars before shutting down in 2018. The Soviet Union’s Lunokhod 2 rover, which launched to the Moon in 1973, now occupies third place with a total journey of 39 kilometers (24 miles). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Fact Worth Sharing

NASA’s Curiosity rover only has to continue for a little less than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) to travel farther than Lunokhod 2 did. As of August, though, Curiosity has reached a different milestone: it reached 1 kilometer of vertical distance traveled while climbing up the slopes of Mars’ Mount Sharp.

Mission Briefings

Green stars may be possible, after all. In a new research paper, astronomers studying the light from white dwarf stars have claimed that trace elements present in the stars’ atmospheres could sometimes result in pink, purple, yellow, cyan, and even green colors. These stars are too dim for their colors to be visible to the naked eye, but the scientists were able to infer what they would look like using measurements of the stars’ light across a range of wavelengths. Image credit: Mark Hollands/University of Warwick.

The Orionid meteor shower peaks next week. The Orionids typically show about 20 meteors per hour from a dark site during peak activity, which this year falls on the night between Oct. 21 and 22. Unfortunately, a waxing gibbous Moon will reduce the shower’s visibility during the beginning and middle of the night, until after the Moon sets. Image credit: NASA.

Artemis II’s Christina Koch is stepping away from active flight duty. The NASA astronaut will now serve as the agency’s acting deputy chief engineer, helping lead technical oversight of various NASA programs. With Koch’s transition, all of the Artemis II crew have moved on from being eligible for future space missions.

From The Planetary Society

The MMX mission is set to launch to Mars’ moon Phobos next week, equipped with tech funded by The Planetary Society. The Japanese mission aims to bring back the first-ever samples from Phobos using (in part) a tool that is based on PlanetVac, a technology the Society aided early on in its development. Our new article covers what you can expect from MMX’s launch, which could take place as early as Oct. 19. Plus, this week’s episode of Planetary Radio has host Sarah Al-Ahmed talking PlanetVac and MMX with Asa Stahl, public outreach astronomer at The Planetary Society, and Kris Zacny, vice president and senior research scientist at Honeybee Robotics. Image credit: JAXA.

Can you buy science the way you buy a rocket launch? On this week’s Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition, host Casey Dreier is joined by Jack Kiraly, chief of advocacy for The Planetary Society, and Britney Schmidt, planetary scientist, astrobiologist, and Planetary Society board member, to unpack what commercial science services can and can’t deliver.

Enter to win Celestron EclipSmart Solar Binoculars

As part of our Egypt 2027 Eclipse sweepstakes, now through Oct. 20, enter for your chance to win Celestron EclipSmart Solar Binoculars, built to give you safe, detailed views of the Sun! Every entry gets you closer to the grand prize: a 10-day, astronomer-led journey through Egypt for two to witness totality in Luxor. Your next adventure could be closer than you think. Enter today!

What's Up

This week, look for Saturn in the early evening east, while very bright Jupiter rises in the middle of the night and is high up in the pre-dawn sky. Reddish Mars is up in the late night and morning eastern sky, located above Jupiter. Find out what else to look for in October’s night skies.

This is Anything But A Hail Mary

Hi Downlink reader! I’m Andy Weir, sci-fi author, NASA superfan (just look how stoked I am in that photo visiting Johnson Space Center!), and proud supporter of The Planetary Society.

I spend a lot of time thinking about space and dreaming about what’s possible. My writing — from “The Martian” to “Project Hail Mary” — is how I explore the Universe without ever leaving the atmosphere. It’s this passion that drives me to support real space science however I can. That’s why I support The Planetary Society.

Their members help defend NASA Science from budget cuts so we can search farther and deeper into space, like my characters. If you aren’t already with us, will you join me as a member of The Planetary Society today?

Wow of the Week

Barbara Fee Sheehan, a member of The Planetary Society and the International Association of Astronomical Artists, painted the above artwork after seeing this photo of the Pismis 24 star cluster, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The painting is a work of water-soluble oils on canvas, two feet wide by three feet tall. Image credit: Barbara Fee Sheehan.

Send us your artwork!

We love to feature space artwork in the Downlink. If you create any kind of space-related art, we invite you to send it to us by replying to any Downlink email or writing to [email protected]. Please let us know in your email if you’re a Planetary Society member!