Articles

Emily Lakdawalla

JPL has published a schedule for press briefings in the first week of Curiosity's mission on Mars.

Jason Davis

I'll be guest hosting this week's Cosmoquest Science Hangout on Wednesday, August 1. The show starts at 2300 UTC, and my special guest is Mihály Horányi.

Emily Lakdawalla

I know it’s been all Curiosity, all the time on this blog for the last couple of weeks, and that’s not likely to change much for the next couple of weeks. But I don’t want people to forget that there’s another rover exploring Mars’ ancient geology. Opportunity has been taking spectacular photos of Whim Creek and Endeavour Crater this last week.

Marc Rayman

Dawn has completed the final intensive phase of its exploration of Vesta, and it has now begun its gradual departure for Ceres.

Emily Lakdawalla

The June Solstice issue of our member magazine The Planetary Report is out! The feature article, by W. Scott Kardel of the International Dark-Sky Association, looks at the ecological, economic, and philosophical problem of light pollution. My inside-the-cover Snapshots from Space features image processing work by Gordan Ugarkovic. Bill Nye's Planetary Society Kids section shows you how to build your own MarsDial, and on its back page I share some weird and interesting facts about Mars' moons.

Jason Davis

Recapping the 2012 University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics new media workshop with attendees' tweets.

Emily Lakdawalla

Enough people have asked me when we'll see Curiosity's first images from the surface of Mars that I sought out an answer. The short version: it depends.

Emily Lakdawalla

Curiosity is equipped with seventeen cameras. One of them, the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) will capture a movie as the rover descends to the surface.

Emily Lakdawalla

Whether you are a scientist or a layman, if you have ever asked yourself any question about Curiosity, I strongly suggest that you read the newly published press kit!

Jason Davis

I hosted this week's Cosmoquest Science Hangout for Emily, and my guest was space industry analyst Jeff Foust, editor of The Space Review.

Andrew Chaikin

Chaikin interviews Mars scientist Nathalie Cabrol who talks about her passion for exploration and urges America to explore even in tough economic times.

Emily Lakdawalla

In which I beg the people working on Curiosity to write about what happens in the coming weeks, even if you never share those writings publicly.

Emily Lakdawalla

Pluto is now known to have at least five moons (Charon, Nix, Hydra, P4, and the newly discovered P5), and its burgeoning population might pose a risk to New Horizons during its flyby, three years from now.

Jason Davis

Work continues on the Space Launch System, NASA's next-generation deep space vehicle slated to take humans beyond Earth for the first time since 1972.

Emily Lakdawalla

The final phase of Curiosity's landing on Mars involves the

Marc Rayman

Once again Dawn is diligently mapping Vesta, circling the ancient protoplanet about twice a day, observing the signatures of Vesta's tortured history.

Emily Lakdawalla

As astronaut Don Pettit prepared for his return to Earth, he tweeted several beautiful shots from the Space Station.

Jennifer Vaughn

Watch the Planetary Society CEO tell CNN why a reduction in NASA's planetary science funding is a mistake.

A.J.S. Rayl

Even robots deserve a break once in a while, and when the Mars Odyssey orbiter went into safe mode in June, Opportunity got the chance to hang out and leisurely take in her surroundings at the Red Planet, while the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission downshifted into lower gear.

Emily Lakdawalla

Just a note to let people know I'll be on vacation until July 16.