Articles

John Spencer

Oh well, the Sun sets on an earthbound New Horizons at least one more time. The first day's launch attempt was a strange experience in retrospect.

John Spencer

New Horizons just experienced what we hope will be its last ever sunset on Earth. There will be three more sunsets to come.

John Spencer

Another quick post from the Cape. Yesterday was our final pre-launch meeting of the Science Team.

John Spencer

We're at the Cape! More properly, we're at Cocoa Beach just down the coast, having flown in from Denver today.

Emily Lakdawalla

There's a new

John Spencer

This is probably my last missive before Jane and I leave for the Cape on Friday in preparation for the launch.

Emily Lakdawalla

Over the weekend, New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern posted a new

Emily Lakdawalla

I'll just make this an

John Spencer

I'm at home on a Sunday morning, five days before leaving for the Cape (assuming the current launch schedule, with the first launch opportunity on January 17th, continues to hold).

John Spencer

I've been sifting through the data I obtained last week on the lightcurve of binary Kuiper Belt object 1998 SM165 during my three nights on the Lowell Observatory 72

A.J.S. Rayl

The Mars Exploration Rovers have each completed their first Mars Year (687 Earth days) and are close to completing their second Earth year exploring their respective sites on the Red Planet. With both Spirit and Opportunity finding new variations of bedrock in the areas they are exploring, the mission is continuing to send the team holiday gifts in the form of intriguing discoveries.

Emily Lakdawalla

There was a big news splash about two articles that appeared in Nature about Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site. The articles suggest two theories for the formation of the layered sulfur-rich deposits at Meridiani Planum that do not involve standing liquid water.

Emily Lakdawalla

According to the latest Venus Express Status Reporton ESA's website, the Near Earth Commissioning Phase of the mission has been completed successfully, and the spacecraft is going to be napping for a few weeks as it continues to cruise toward Venus.

Emily Lakdawalla

The Applied Physics Laboratory announced today that MESSENGER's first

Emily Lakdawalla

It's been a while since I posted some Cassini pictures here just because they were pretty.

Emily Lakdawalla

I am working my way steadily through the seven Huygens papers that were released by Nature magazine Wednesday on their

Emily Lakdawalla

Emily tackles this morning's ESA press conference about Huygens.

A.J.S. Rayl

In its orbit around the Sun, the Red Planet has been returning to where it was when the Mars Exploration Rovers first landed back in January 2004, and, as the twin robot field geologists are marking the milestone of their first Martian year -- equivalent to almost two Earth years -- fireworks are flashing all around the planet. Although the cause of the fireworks is actually debris from Halley's comet, through which Mars is currently passing, the timing seems so metaphorically appropriate.

Emily Lakdawalla

Hayabusa has been riding an incredible wave of luck lately, resulting in the dramatic success of the sample grab last week. But it looks as though Hayabusa's luck may be running out.

Emily Lakdawalla

Remember how Hayabusa was virtually still for 30 minutes? JAXA is now saying that Hayabusa actually touched down -- and more than that, they may even have a sample.