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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
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.
Somewhere Over the Bay of Rainbows
Pay a visit to the Chang'e 3 lunar landing site.
First image from India's Mars Orbiter Mission
Here, for your enjoyment, is the first image of Earth taken by the mission's Mars Colour Camera.
ARTEMIS Mission Update
ARTEMIS is a mission that retasked two probes from the 5-spacecraft Heliophysics constellation THEMIS to study the interaction of the Moon with the space plasma environment.
Science Against the Storm
In the face of disaster, the search for answers and ways to help continues, on the ground and in space.
The solar eclipse in Africa seen from space
On Sunday, the shadow of the Moon passed across Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. This was the last solar eclipse of the year. The Elektro-L satellite was able to observe the eclipse, and we can see the darkness of the lunar shadow covering Africa.
The Strangest Place on the Moon?
A closer look at the odd lunar feature called
Juno is in Safe Mode again, but still okay
After entering safe mode last week during its Earth flyby, Juno returned to normal operations and downlinked all engineering and science instrument data. It entered safe mode again on Sunday night, but it is expected to re-resume normal operations late next week.
Juno's flying by Earth today, and images of the Moon are already on the ground!
Juno flies past Earth for a gravity assist at 19:22 UTC today, and the first images from the encounter are already on the ground and processed by amateurs!
Juno Flies By Earth Today
NASA's Juno spacecraft gets a gravity assist from the Earth on its way to Jupiter today. Learn all about today's close approach.
On space kindness and the Chelyabinsk meteor
Through an act of kindness, we now have images of the Chelyabinsk meteor trail from Russia's Elektro-L satellite.
Relative and absolute ages in the histories of Earth and the Moon: The Geologic Time Scale
A few days ago, I wrote a post about the basins of the Moon -- a result of a trip down a rabbit hole of book research. Here's the next step in that journey: the Geologic Time Scales of Earth and the Moon.
Dating the Moon's basins
A paper in press in the Journal of Geophysical Research uses new data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to update our story for the history of the Moon's massive impacts.
Swan Song
The final moments of a lunar orbiter, as told in a song composed by the moon itself.
Europe Will Select Its Next Major Science Mission in November
The European Space Agency will announce two major science missions this November, one of which is likely to be devoted to solar system exploration.
Go LADEE!
Listen to or watch the recording of our live celebration for LADEE as the spacecraft blasted off for the moon.
Watch LADEE Launch to the Moon with The Planetary Society
Starting at 7:30pm PDT/10:30pm EDT, we will webcast a special event around the launch of NASA's next lunar spacecraft. Watch our special coverage with lunar scientists and live video from the launch site, as well as NASA TV footage of the launch itself.
China Goes to the Moon and Beyond?
Planetary Radio guest Leonard David has been writing about space exploration for more than five decades. He has collected analysis from around the world about China's big plans for space exploration.
The Walls of the Pit
A deep lunar crater exposes some of the Moon's secrets.