Articles

Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

Door 21 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the twenty-first door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this rumpled blanket?

Door 20 in the 2010 advent calendar (special news update)

Time to open the twentieth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this diffuse blob and stripy sea?

Door 19 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the nineteenth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system are these folded rocks?

Door 18 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the eighteenth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this brush-stroked surface?

Door 17 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the seventeenth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system are these strange promontories?

Door 16 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the sixteenth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this widespread fan?

Door 15 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the fifteenth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this cratered world?

Opportunity drives within 20 meters of Santa Maria, spots alligator's tail

Today Opportunity has driven to within 20 meters of Santa Maria crater, and the blocks around it are really, really cool-looking. This one is a dead ringer for the severed tail of an alligator.

Phobos Photobomb

Don't blink when you play the video below -- it's only 15 seconds long, but it's so cool.

Opportunity: "So close we can taste it" to Santa Maria

Opportunity is on a kilometers-long eastward road trip across Meridiani Planum toward the rim of a large ancient crater named Endeavour; it'll be many months yet before she gets there.

Door 14 in the 2010 advent calendar

Until the New Year, I'll be opening a door each day onto a different landscape from somewhere in the solar system. Where in the solar system are these red freckles?

Door 13 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the thirteenth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system are these parallel gouges?

Door 12 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the twelfth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this trapezoidal mountain?

Door 11 in the 2010 advent calendar

Time to open the eleventh door in the advent calendar. Until the New Year, I'll be opening a door onto a different landscape from somewhere in the solar system. Where in the solar system are these sinuous ridges?