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All
Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Mysteries, Small and Large
Mysteries, Small and Large
Aloha, Io
Taking a look at Jupiter's moon, Io, from Hawaii.
Designing the Cassini Tour
Each Titan flyby is not a fork in the road, but rather a Los Angeles style cloverleaf in terms of the dizzying number of possible destinations. So how did our current and future plans for the path of the Cassini spacecraft come to be? That's the question Dave Seal put to me since that's my job -- I am a tour designer.
Canto IV: A Cog in the Wheel, a New Star in the Sky
David Seal talks about his experience working with Kevin Beurle.
LRO & LCROSS Up Close Tour: Part 2, Hunting for Lunar Water
LRO & LCROSS Up Close Tour: Part 2, Hunting for Lunar Water
The Steven J. Ostro Memorial Symposium on Planetary Radar and Near-Earth Objects
The Steven J. Ostro Memorial Symposium on Planetary Radar and Near-Earth Objects
Canto III: Hints of Equinox
Saturn is rapidly approaching equinox, where the Sun passes through the ring plane (south-to-north, i.e. the northern vernal equinox), and its ring system (i.e. its great now-gloomy poorly-lit circles of large blocks of water ice) is starting to show some really interesting behavior.
Kaguya impact information available to observers
Kaguya impact information available to observers
Canto II: Titan's Atmosphere and the Solar Cycle
David Seal explains the complications for Cassini coming from Titan's atmosphere and Solar Cycle.
Star Trek designer Mike Okuda will be honored by NASA
Star Trek designer Mike Okuda will be honored by NASA
Connections
David Seal muses on his time as the mission planner for Cassini, and the history behind its name, and astronomy in Rome.
Early Data from Ibuki
Early Data from Ibuki
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Sand Snared and Dusted, Opportunity Rests and Roves
The Mars Exploration Rovers hit some rough patches in May as Spirit sat stuck in a sand patch all month and Opportunity had to stop again to rest its right front wheel but with a little help from Mars, the intrepid, twin robot field geologists cruised through the summer solstice with the energy and invincibility of a couple of teenage robots.
Looking at Mars with the MRO CTX
Looking at Mars with the MRO CTX
Water and the Curiosity Landing Site Candidates
Water and the Curiosity Landing Site Candidates
Monkeynauts' 50th Anniversary of Flight
Monkeynauts' 50th Anniversary of Flight
The Martian Craters Asimov and Danielson
The Martian Craters Asimov and Danielson
MSL is a Curiosity
Well, it looks like the next-generation rover that will be launching to Mars in 2011 (and happens to be the focal point of my PhD thesis) just got a name!
Dawn Journal: Testing Flight Software 8.0
Dawn's mission continues to go very well, as the spacecraft nears the end of the longest coasting period of its astronomical journey.
Mars: "Follow the Water" Is Not Dead
Sometimes it is a bit awkward being a planetary scientist.