Articles

Emily Lakdawalla

I am updating this as I take notes from the press conference.

John Spencer

We just got back from the real post-launch party, following two non-post-launch parties on the last two evenings. This was more like it.

Emily Lakdawalla

Emily Lakdawalla

I was looking at that table of launch times for New Horizons and realized that the table included another valuable column of data that I hadn't noticed before: it tells you what year New Horizons will arrive, for each of the possible launch dates.

Emily Lakdawalla

Well, it was a nail-biting morning and too bad that New Horizons didn't go but these things happen pretty frequently.

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.

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

There's a new

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).

Emily Lakdawalla

I've just resurrected a feature on the site that has been lost since our redesign: the

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

Emily Lakdawalla

Read that title aloud. Yes, the last minute of 2005 is actually 61 seconds long.

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.