All
All
Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Deep Impact On Course for Comet Crash; Mission Is Already Producing Science Returns
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is set for its date with Comet Tempel 1.
The Planetary Society Asks "Where is Cosmos 1?" Received Signals May Have Come from Solar Sail Spacecraft in Orbit
The Planetary Society continues to investigate the mystery of what happened to its Cosmos 1 spacecraft - a joint project with Cosmos Studios - that launched last week on a Russian Volna rocket.
Cassini-Huygens anniversary
In the midst of all this hoopla about Deep Impact, I haven't been able to give the proper attention to Cassini, which began its second year of operations at Saturn today.
Changes to the Deep Impact encounter timeline
A reader has pointed out that JPL has changed their online press kit for Deep Impact, which was my primary source material for the encounter timeline.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Rocks Independence as Opportunity Celebrates With Road Trip
The Mars Exploration Rovers are still going strong, and both robot field geologists will be working through the July 4th holiday.
News: All of Earth's Eyes Are on Tempel 1 as Deep Impact Zeroes In on Comet...
With four days remaining until Deep Impact crashes into comet Tempel 1, the comet is looming larger and larger in the public view.
Heads up: the Deep Impact encounter is coming up!
Less than a week remains before the Deep Impact mission is set to meet its fate at Tempel 1. A mission like this has been a dream for planetary scientists for a long time.
"Mars Spectacular!"
Apparently there is a bogus email circulating around the Web with the following text:
News: Dark Spot Near the South Pole: A Candidate Lake on Titan?
The Cassini imaging team has released an image containing a feature unlike any other that they have seen on Titan. The very dark color, curvaceous outline, and sharp edge of the feature have led them to the conclusion that it could well be the long-theorized but never-before-seen body of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface of Titan.
A couple of pics from Cassini at periapsis
Cassini's been in orbit around Saturn for almost exactly a year now, and the mission seems pretty much to have dropped off of the public radar screen. But there's still three years to go on the primary mission, and lots left to do, and I for one am not at all bored.
A new adventure
Announcing The Planetary Society's Weblog.
The Story of Cosmos 1 is Not Over: A Personal Report
The word failure is sticking in my craw. Certainly, we failed to achieve the objective of Cosmos 1: we did not achieve solar-sail flight. But I don’t think, with all we have done, that I can call Cosmos 1 a failure.
Piecing the Data Together
We’ve had a very exciting day here in Moscow. Bud Schurmeier and I met with Konstantin Pichkhadze, head of the Lavochkin Association, which built our spacecraft, Cosmos 1.
The Launch of Cosmos 1: Live Reports
In the past twenty-four hours, the Russian space agency (RKA) has made a tentative conclusion that the Volna rocket carrying Cosmos 1 failed during the firing of the first stage. This would mean that Cosmos 1 is lost.
"We have a live spacecraft..."
...we think.
Final Words Before Launch
Speaking by phone to a roomful of journalists in Pasadena less than 2 hours before the expected launch, project director Louis Friedman reiterated his confidence in the entire Cosmos 1 team.
Cosmos 1 Solar Sail will Carry CD into Orbit
When Cosmos 1, the first solar sail spacecraft, launches on June 21, 2005, it will carry into Earth orbit a CD containing the names of over 75,000 members of The Planetary Society and the Japan Planetary Society, along with the works of early visionaries who inspired solar sailing.
Cosmos 1: Another rehearsal...
Rehearsals don't always go so well, which is the whole point of rehearsals. That was true both for us and for the Russians today, in separate simulations of mission operations.
The buzz begins!
Yesterday, we sent out an invitation to print, TV, and Web media for the launch event we'll be holding at our Pasadena headquarters on Tuesday. So today, the buzz really began about our mission, and the phones are beginning to ring off the hook.
Cosmos 1 "Mated" to Volna Rocket in Preparation for Tuesday Launch
The world’s first solar sail spacecraft, Cosmos 1, is now mated to its Volna launch vehicle and ready for its ride into space.