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

The eye of Saturn's south polar vortex

What's up in the solar system for the week of July 21

I'm finally back home from a long trip visiting family, so it's time for me to get back in the swing of things by checking up on the current activities of the twenty spacecraft exploring the solar system.

Opportunity's route map to sol 1,584

Opportunity route map update

Eduardo Tesheiner was kind enough to send me an updated version of his route map for Opportunity so we can get a sense of just how close the rover is getting to Cape Verde.

Disappearing act (Phoenix sol 24)

Yep, it's ice!

The Phoenix mission confirmed it this morning: the disappearing act pulled by those chunks of bright material in the Dodo trench pretty much nails the identification of the bright material as ice, which is great news for the mission. Ice is what Phoenix went all the way to Mars to study; it's what the team has been aiming for all these years.

Hayabusa (MUSES-C)

Hayabusa update

JAXA has posted a note on their website on the status of Hayabusa, which apparently reached aphelion in late May. Hayabusa is Japan's amazing ion-powered mission to asteroid Itokawa, which touched down on Itokawa to grab a sample in mid-November 2005, but suffered an injury that has left in doubt its ability to return the sample capsule to Earth.

Mars Exploration Rover

The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Presses On, Opportunity Roves On as Martian Winter Sets In

As Phoenix commanded the headlines with its flawless touchdown in the arctic region of the Red Planet this past month, the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) forged onward slowly, quietly and out of the spotlight, heading into the depths of their third Martian winter. Spirit persevered and held its own in terms of energy, while Opportunity, after six weeks of being stopped in its tracks with a shoulder joint injury, roved once more.

Dawn in survey orbit at Ceres

Dawn Journal: Ion Propulsion

The Dawn mission continues smoothly, as the spacecraft reliably thrusts with its ion propulsion system, demonstrating all the patience of a...well, of an ion-propelled spacecraft!

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