en-us http://planetary.org/blog/ A guide to interesting stuff going on in space science, space exploration, and space advocacy. 15 Sat, 10 Jan 2009 04:35:21 GMT Sat, 10 Jan 2009 04:35:21 GMT http://www.planetary.org/_img/rss/logo.jpg 127 111 http://planetary.org/blog/ blog@planetary.org (Emily Ladakawalla) Copyright © 2009 by The Planetary Society. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001805/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001805/ I haven't posted about my fund drive in a bit because I figured people would be preoccupied with December holidays. Donations have matched the $600 challenge issued by the unmannedspaceflight.com moderators, for which I thank you all very much. In total, we've made a few thousand bucks, which will help support the work that I and the other web staff do to keep the information flowing on this website, but of course it's a long way from paying .... Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:14:01 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001804/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001804/ There's a press release that's making the rounds today that neatly explains the regular spacing of rocks on the plains on Mars. Everywhere we've landed spacecraft on Mars, they arrive on relatively flat surfaces that are covered with rocks. This in itself is odd. On Earth, you mostly see rocks where there are steep slopes. Where things are flat, you mostly don't see rocks (with the notable exception of places where there have been glaciers). .... Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:02:43 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001803/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001803/ A tip of the hat to Ryan over at Martian Chronicles for posting this lovely version of the Santorini panorama, which Opportunity captured just before Mars dipped too close to the Sun in late November of last year. If you click to enlarge you'll get a nice view of some large sand ripples that have wandered over the odd, flat bedrock of Meridiani Planum. Actually what struck me about that rock in this image was that in many places, that bedrock .... Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:48:14 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001802/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001802/ I've posted another week plus worth of updates on the 2008-2009 Antarctic Search for Meteorites expedition, in which the bloggers seem to be growing increasingly punchy as they spend more time in tents far from civilization without such amenities as showers or warmth or dark nights in which to sleep. They seem to be keeping their spirits up though, and when the weather gods are kind to them, they have productive meteorite-gathering days. I am .... Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:01:44 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001801/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001801/ Hallelujah! For the first time in almost an Earth year, amateur mars mapper Eduardo Tesheiner is able to scratch a tiny little line on his map of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's peregrinations across Gusev Crater. Here's the updated map, the first new one since sol 1466:Click to enlarge >Spirit route map to Sol 1782On Sol 1782 (Jan. 6, 2009), Spirit inched downward from its third winter haven, just off the north edge of Home Plate. It was .... Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:24:33 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001800/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001800/ Chandrayaan-1 has been in orbit at the Moon since November 8, and is steadily returning data from its science instruments. The "Images from Chandrayaan-1" page at the Indian Space Research Organisation has been updated a few times over the last several weeks with new images from its Terrain Mapping Camera and HySI camera, while the headquarters of the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) at Brown University has also posted its first data. The M3 team .... Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:43:00 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001799/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001799/ Scott Maxwell is one of those many guys (and gals) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who rarely gets his name in the news but who is absolutely indispensable to the success of a space mission. I don't know what his official title is, but whatever it is, it's not as good as the colloquial name given to his position: Rover Driver. Yes, Scott drives the Mars Exploration Rovers for a living. I'd say he looks pretty pleased with his place in life, .... Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:57:09 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001798/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001798/ I just found out that the good people of Astronomy Cast are broadcasting the press briefings at this week's meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach via Ustream. Go here to watch the live press briefings; today's schedule is below, and you can watch the Astronomy Cast LIVE website for the schedule of press briefings later this week. The video and sound quality is quite clear enough to follow what's going on -- Astronomy Cast .... Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:59:48 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001797/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001797/ Here's our monthly checkup with the Dawn mission, contributed by Marc Rayman, the mission's Project System Engineer. Thanks Marc! --ESL by Dr. Marc D. Rayman Dear Dawncember30ths, Having fulfilled all of its assignments for 2008, the Dawn spacecraft has been unusually quiescent recently. While its operators on faraway Earth have no shortage of work, the probe patiently coasts in its orbit around the Sun, awaiting a brief encounter with Mars .... Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:10:48 GMT http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001796/ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001796/ On January 3, 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed on Mars, and I was with the science team at JPL when it happened! I can't believe it's been five years since the successful landing. I chose the anniversary as the topic of my first podcast for 365 Days of Astronomy (follow that link to download it). Below is a transcript of my podcast -- enjoy! If you'd like to learn more about the rovers and what they've been doing for the last .... Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:15:43 GMT