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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
A sunset into the dust
While Spirit has been stuck at Troy, it's been taking numerous opportunities to capture photos with dramatic twilight lighting. On sol 2,002 (three sols ago, or August 21), it gazed toward the setting Sun, snapping the shutter roughly once a minute.
New image of Opportunity on Mars
I really can't explain why it didn't occur to me to search for the rover in the image of Victoria crater released by the HiRISE team on Wednesday.
Mars eye candy: New oblique view of Victoria crater
Today the HiRISE team released a lovely new view of Victoria crater, taken nearly a year after the Opportunity rover departed it.
Reports from the 2009 AMASE Field Expedition
Now that it's high summer in the Arctic, it's time for research expeditions to swarm northward to explore icy landscapes as analogues to Mars and other far-off places.
Beyond Apollo: Where Next in Space?
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Planetary Society founder Lou Friedman argue that it is time for humans to go beyond the Moon.
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
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!
Mars: "Follow the Water" Is Not Dead
Sometimes it is a bit awkward being a planetary scientist.
Exciting Times Ahead: 2010 Will Sizzle, and 2011 Will Really Cook!
Today, I'm kicking the week off with a look at the unusually intense confluence of far flung planetary exploration that's just around the corner, starting the middle of next year.
Pretty Dunes in Gale Crater
This is a tiny subframe from the HiRISE image PSP_009294_1750.
Spirit puts the pedal to the metal
Way to go, Spirit! The last two drives for the five-wheeled rover have taken it a total of about 40 meters west, traveling around the north edge of Home Plate. If I'm not mistaken, that's more than Spirit has driven in the last 400 sols combined.
Give MSL a Real Name!
The voting has begun to give the Mars Science Laboratory a genuine, non-acronym name!
Planetary Surface Processes Field Trip: Day 7
Friday was the last day of the field trip, and we spent it at the Petrified Forest National Park.
Planetary Surface Processes Field Trip: Day 6
Today we visited Grand Falls and the nearby dune field. Grand Falls is especially interesting because it combines many of the processes that are active in shaping planetary surfaces.
What are the rovers up to? March 2009
As usual, troubled Spirit's progress sometimes amounts to only centimeters, while golden child Opportunity has already clocked four kilometers on its trek toward Endeavour.