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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Curiosity sol 102 update: Eppur si muove
Curiosity is a rover again at last! She was parked at the dune named Rocknest for 40 sols, from sol 60 through 99. On sol 100, she drove right on top of the dune, obliterating her five scoop marks. Then on sol 102 she took a good long, 35-meter drive so that she's now right on the edge of the
Beautiful butterfly crater on Mars (another HiWish granted!)
I asked Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to take a photo, and it turned out better than I had imagined: an incredibly fresh, well-preserved, dramatically rayed oblique impact crater.
Cosmoquest Science Hour, Wednesday: Take a taste of Mars with Pamela Conrad, Curiosity SAM Instrument Deputy PI
This week's Cosmoquest Astronomy Hour Google+ Hangout at 1600 PDT / 2300 UTC on Wednesday will feature Pamela Conrad, the deputy principal investigator for Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. Tune in to learn more about how this experiment will change our view of Mars, and to ask your questions!
Curiosity, Endeavour, and Bill Nye on Your Phone
This week's Planetary Radio episode presents highlights of the first Curiosity press briefing about the Martian atmosphere, and then takes you to the opening day ceremony for Shuttle Endeavour. You have till Friday, November 9, at 10am Pacific to send your 10th anniversary message to the show and possibly win Bill Nye on your answering machine.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Begins Reconnaissance of Matijevic Hill
After spending much of October driving around and taking pictures on Matijevic Hill, Opportunity hunkered down for Halloween and spent the holiday quietly, staying out of mischief's way and the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission roved another month closer to its ninth anniversary of working on the surface of the Red Planet.
Huge self-portrait of Curiosity on Mars
Curiosity used MAHLI, the scientific camera at the end of the robotic arm, to shoot a huge color portrait of herself sitting on Mars, with Gale's central mountain in the background.
Getting up to speed with Curiosity as of sol 84, and two awesome mosaics
Curiosity has already spent more than three weeks at Rocknest, working through the very slow process of commissioning the sample handling systems. While parked, she's taken a couple of amazing photo mosaics.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3111- October 23, 2012
We on the MER Opportunity science team are currently doing an “outcrop walk” with Opportunity on the slopes of Cape York, a small residual part of the rim on the 20+ km diameter Endeavour Crater, Mars.
A dispatch from J-school: two short videos
Two short videos produced by Jason Davis on astronomy and planetary science work taking place at the University of Arizona.
Book Review: The International Atlas of Mars Exploration, by Phil Stooke
I've been waiting for the publication of this book for years. Phil Stooke's International Atlas of Mars Exploration, just published by Cambridge University Press, is an exhaustively awesome labor of love, chronicling the first five decades of Mars exploration in pictures, maps, and facts.
First science reports from Curiosity's APXS and ChemCam: Petrology on Jake Matijevic
A Curiosity press briefing yesterday gave some of the first results from ChemCam and APXS on the rock
Pretty panoramas: Curiosity's scenic views of distant hills
The landscapes that surround Curiosity are picture-postcard beautiful.
Mangalyaan update: Testing of main engine underway
A report in the Times of India states that India's Mars mission's main engine is now being tested.
Cosmoquest Astronomy Hour, Wednesday: What's up with Curiosity on Mars
It's becoming a biweekly thing -- join me, Fraser Cain, and now Casey Dreier for an update on Curiosity and a chance for you to get your Curiosity questions answered! The Google+ Hangout is on Wednesday, October 10, at 16:00 PDT / 23:00 UTC.
Pretty picture: Late afternoon in Gale Crater
Curiosity shot a lovely panoramic view of the distant rim of Gale crater in the dramatic lighting of late afternoon on sol 49. Damien Bouic has colorized it, and it is beautiful.
Mars Program Update from MEPAG
Bruce Betts reports on the status of the current and future Mars program and on acronyms from a meeting of NASA's MEPAG (Mars Exploration Analysis Program Analysis Group).
Curiosity Update, sol 57: Digging in at Rocknest
Engineers requested that Curiosity be driven to a
Curiosity catches sunspots along with Phobos and Deimos transits
Curiosity has been shooting photos of the Sun as Phobos and Deimos cross its face, and -- as far as I can tell -- captured sunspots as well.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Finds Thrill of Newberries on Matijevic Hill
On reconnaissance of Matijevic Hill, Opportunity has driven right into another Martian mystery, compete with new kinds of “berries,
Beautiful rocks ahead at Glenelg, but first, Curiosity must dig in the sand
A beautiful panoramic view of the varied rocks of Glenelg has been transmitted from Curiosity on Mars. But before going any further, it's time to run the first Martian sand through the soil sampling system.