Articles

Emily Lakdawalla

In a move that's kind of hard to understand in the wake of the immense public outreach success of the Hayabusa mission, JAXA is closing JAXA i, its public information center in Tokyo today (December 28 in Japan).

Emily Lakdawalla

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.

Emily Lakdawalla

(I promise that this post will get around to the subject of space exploration in a couple of paragraphs.)

Susan Lendroth

Day Two of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, and it started with a game of

Emily Lakdawalla

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

Emily Lakdawalla

This news is a little old but worth mentioning: On September 9, the Japanese solar sail mission, IKAROS, won a Web award in Japan for their work to publicize the mission via Twitter.

Emily Lakdawalla

Last week I posted a stack of Voyager Mission Status Bulletins, which were once the main resource for space enthusiasts to follow the dramatic events and photos of an in-flight space mission.

Emily Lakdawalla

The Final Funktier is a kids' music album that is (a) delightful for grownups too and (b) features largely space-themed tracks. Win!

Emily Lakdawalla

Let other geeks have their T-shirts with fictional space explorers -- now you can emblazon your chest with 23 space missions that have really explored space!

Emily Lakdawalla

I've spent today fiddling around with Google Calendar and have created a wholly new calendar of space events for the blog.

Emily Lakdawalla

It's high summer (in the northern hemisphere anyway) and many of you may be seeking shelter from the heat. If you need to collapse on the couch and watch TV, I have three space-y recommendations for you.

Ryan Anderson

I'm a little late on this, but I thought I should share the news: MSL now has a good head and neck on its shoulders, and has officially

Emily Lakdawalla

During Friday's first roll for Curiosity, there was a lot of banter in the Ustream chat room about all the bunny-suited engineers waving at the cameras and mugging for portraits with the rover. One chat room member,

Emily Lakdawalla

Upon James Aldridge's return from Japan, he posted several albums worth of amazing photos, including several of their calligraphy instructor, well-known artist Aiko Tanaka, creating a gestural brush painting to commemorate Hayabusa's return.

Emily Lakdawalla

A couple of months ago, someone on Twitter sent me a link to an article about Laura Cesari's bead jewelry inspired by the solar system. I thought it was awfully cool.

Emily Lakdawalla

Covering the events of Hayabusa's return involved a lot of watching and waiting. Rather than go blind staring at my computer and cause carpal tunnel syndrome by excessively clicking the refresh button, I decided to...go blind and develop carpal tunnel syndrome by doing some crocheting.

Emily Lakdawalla

While he was in Japan to observe IKAROS' sail deployment, Lou Friedman couldn't help but notice the country's excitement over the impending return of Hayabusa.

Charlene Anderson

Hollywood and Science are not congenial colleagues. When their paths cross, as they so often do in science-fiction films, each feels the other must give way to the cultural absolutes of their different tribes.

Abigail Fraeman

Our favorite astronaut has moonwalked off the dance floor, and we want to thank him for showing us that you're never too old to try something new. This is my last post -- I hope you've enjoyed reading these little interjections of space-related pop culture.

Abigail Fraeman

It's the second week of ABC's television program Dancing with the Stars, which means two things: (1) Someone will be getting the boot from the competition on Tuesday night, and (2) Our favorite rocket man had a second chance to prove to judge Bruno Tonioli that he could dance without looking like he was still wearing his moon boots.