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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
It's Phobos season again for Mars Express
The Mars Express blog has been reactivated today, as a new series of Phobos flybys is already underway.
Mars Exploration Rover Update: Spirit Silent Still, Opportunity Savors Santa Maria, We Flashback on 2010
The Mars Exploration Rovers are wrapping up another year of exploring their seventh -- having experienced both the best of times and the worst of times: Spirit continued a 10-month struggle to endure its coldest, harshest Martian winter yet; Opportunity set a new record for driving despite an arthritic front wheel and a broken shoulder, putting more miles on her rocker bogie in 2010 than in any other single year.
365 Days of Astronomy Podcast: Small Worlds
Today the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast aired my contribution, Small Worlds, about the smaller denizens of the solar system visited in the past year, and due to be visited in the next.
Door 24 in the 2010 advent calendar
Each day 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 squirrely spots?
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?
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.
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 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?
Door 4 in the 2010 advent calendar
Time to open the fourth door in the advent calendar. Where in the solar system is this crater-specked mound?
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Mission Looks Back in Honor to Apollo 12, and Drives Exploration Onward
The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) forged on in November, their 83rd month of an expedition originally planned for three months: Spirit remained silent at Gusev Crater presumably still re-charging her batteries, as Opportunity roved through a field of craters pressing on toward Endeavour Crater, quietly claiming title along the way to being the first roving robot to drive 25 kilometers on Mars.
A few Mars Express Phobos goodies
To celebrate Mars Express' recent mission extension to 2014, here are some cool pictures that it took of Mars' inner and larger moon Phobos.
ESA commits to extending 11 missions' space operations for 3 years
Europe is apparently of the mind that science and technology will help to carry them out of tough economic times, and has made three-year commitments to continue the in-space operations of 11 missions through 2014.
I can't wait for MAHLI to land on Mars
JPL has just released some test images from the camera that has just been installed on the end of the Curiosity rover's robotic arm.
Opportunity bags a few craters
In the last few days, Opportunity's passed by several craters, and the rover drivers took advantage of the chance encounters for what they call
Fly over Mars
Adrian Lark has posted several new flights over gorgeous Martian landscapes to his Youtube channel. My favorite of his recent ones is this dive into Zumba crater.
Rover news; Earth-size exoplanets; Future of Russian space
Just a linky post here.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Remains Silent, Opportunity Pushes on to Endeavour
For the Mars Exploration Rovers, October was a lot like September, which was a lot like August: Spirit continued hibernating at Gusev Crater or so it appears since the rover didn't phone home; and Opportunity picked up the pace to Endeavour Crater again, setting new driving records and marking more milestones along the way.
Timeline for the Phobos Sample Return Mission (Phobos Grunt)
In mid-October, I attended the First Moscow Solar System Symposium. Its focus was mostly on Phobos science and plans for next year's launch of the Phobos Sample Return Mission (also known as Phobos-Grunt), on which The Planetary Society will be flying the Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment.
Crack the code for a message from Mars, redux
Waaaay back when Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004, the Planetary Society helped the public participate in the missions with a number of projects, including one where we printed