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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Russia's Ambitious Planetary Exploration Goals
Roscosmos has ambitious planetary exploration plans in the coming decades, including a series of solo lunar missions and joint missions to Mars with the European Space Agency.
Video: Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration sends Bill Nye over the Moon
In this fun video, the Planetary Society worked with LADEE Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration team to communicate live over their lunar link.
New version of panoramic view from Chang'e 3
A higher-resolution version of the Chang'e 3 lander's panoramic view of the lunar surface has appeared on the Web, and artist Don Davis has cleaned it of artifacts to make a beautiful, seamless view. In other news, the mission has been reorganized to accommodate a possibly year-long adventure on the lunar surface.
Updates on Chang'e 3: Rover and lander both awake, good science data received
According to news reports from China, the Yutu rover woke up from its two-week nap at 5:09 Beijing time on January 11 (21:09 on January 10, UTC), successfully establishing communication with Earth. The lander woke up autonomously at 8:21 Beijing time / 00:21 UTC on January 12, and is also
Through a Glass, Darkly
When sent from deep space, even imperfect images can inform and amaze.
Finally, some high-quality photos from Chang'e 3!
A pile of Chang'e 3 photos has been released to the Web, and they are much, much better than what I've seen before. They include, for the first time, photos of Earth from the lander.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner maps geologic context of Chang'e 3 landing site
The LRO Diviner Lunar Radiometer has been mapping the entire Moon on a nearly continuous basis since July, 2009. The Diviner team has produced maps of the thermal behavior and and a range of derived quantities at Chang’e 3 landing site that are described in this post.
The Last Flight of the Original Space Ranger
Remembering the Moon's first extreme close-up.
Pretty picture: Two crescents: New moon, old Venus
A baby Moon and aging Venus crescents are positioned close in the sky today, and lots of people are taking beautiful photos.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spies Chang'e 3 and Yutu
As promised, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's sharp eyes spotted the Chang'e 3 lander and Yutu rover on the lunar surface on December 25. The hardware shows up as a few bright pixels throwing long, dark shadows, clearly visible in a before-and-after comparison.
Chang'e 3 update with lots of pictures: Yutu begins lunar journey
There was a lot of action on Chang'e 3 over the weekend! I have lots of pictures to share, including the highest-quality one I've seen of the rover on the surface, plus video of the rover making tracks on the Moon and a 3D view of the lander.
Chang'e 3 and LADEE updates: Yutu active again, LADEE didn't detect landing
Chinese state television broadcast a display of a Chang'e 3 lander image; the Yutu rover is awake; and LADEE reports a surprising non-detection of the Chang'e 3 landing.
NASA re-creates the Apollo 8 Earthrise using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data
If there's one thing I've learned after decades of studying the first human voyages to another world, it's that there is always more to discover about Apollo. Case in point: The Apollo 8 Earthrise photo that became one of the iconic images of the 20th century.
Conversations with an interplanetary spacecraft: "Hi, Juno!"
Juno's Earth flyby represented the first opportunity for many of the science instruments to be used on a planetary target. There were terrific photos of Earth and the Moon, plus a cool project to see if Juno could detect intelligent life on Earth.
Chang'e 3 update: 6 instruments active, new fan-produced landing video
Today there was a lengthy press briefing by several members of the Chang'e 3 science team. A complete transcript was posted in Chinese. I have run it through two machine translators and found it to be quite informative, not just about the mission but also about attitudes about Chinese space exploration and foreign cooperation. I also have a cool fan-produced video to share.
Color photo of Yutu rover and Chang'e lander, and more on the Chang'e 3 landing site
Fresh off of Chinese state television are lovely pictures taken by Chang'e 3 lander and rover of each other!
Amazing Chang'e 3 descent video
Watch and enjoy this full video of Chang'e 3's descent onto the lunar surface.
Chang'e 3 has successfully landed on the Moon!
Transmitting images all the way down, China's Chang'e 3 lander successfully arrived on the lunar surface at 13:11:18 -- half an hour before the scheduled landing time. Rover deploy is set for a few hours later.
Six wheels on soil for Yutu!
Here it is! Animated gifs, composed of screen grabs from Chinese state television, of the Yutu rover rolling on to the lunar surface. This was a replay, but it was no less thrilling for that; the actual rollout happened at 20:40 UT (12:40 PT). Six wheels on soil! Woohoo!
Chang'e 3 and LADEE updates -- and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, too, for good measure
Chang'e 3 is just about to land on the Moon, and the LADEE orbiter has begun a new science mission there, while Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still producing amazing images.