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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Scales Knudsen Ridge and Rocks On
As the Martian winter slowly begins to recede, Opportunity is working away on the steep slopes of Knudsen Ridge at the southern end of Marathon Valley, showing her mettle in some of the most challenging terrain of the rover’s 12+ years on the Red Planet.
MENCA brings divine wealth from Mars: First science results from the Mars Orbiter Mission
MENCA (Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser) is a quadrupole mass spectrometer onboard India's Mars Orbiter Mission, MOM. A report on measurements of neutral species accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters is the first peer-reviewed scientific result from the mission.
How Does a NASA Scientist End Up Working on an ESA Mission?
Cosmologist Jason Rhodes details the path he took to play a leading role in a European mission designed to learn about dark energy.
Dawn Journal: Success at Ceres
More than eight years after leaving Earth behind for an ambitious deep space adventure, the Dawn mission has now collected all of the data originally planned. Chief Engineer and Mission Director Marc Rayman brings us an update.
One-year crew all smiles after safe landing in Kazakhstan
Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko are safely back on Earth today after 340 days in space. The one-year crew duo, along with Sergey Volkov, touched down in Kazahkstan Wednesday morning.
What's up in solar system exploration: March 2016 edition
Welcome to my monthly inventory of the 20-plus spacecraft actively exploring our solar system. Highlights of this month include the impending launch of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander, currently planned for March 14, and the resumption of regular VMC Mars images by Mars Express.
Meet LightSail 2, The Planetary Society's new solar sailing CubeSat
The Planetary Society's solar sailing CubeSat has a new designation: LightSail 2. To celebrate the name change, we're releasing a new video showing footage from a late January sail deployment at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Curiosity Rover: Design, Planning, and Field Geology on Mars
Emily is back to work on her Mars Science Laboratory book, which has a new publication date and a new title.
Atlanta Students Bring Mars to Earth
A group of students from Georgia, USA, were able to explore Mars through the Mars Express #VMCschools campaign, with a little help from The Planetary Society's image processing tutorials.
One-year ISS mission draws to a close
Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko are set to return to Earth next week after their record-breaking, year-long mission aboard the International Space Station.
Pretty pictures: Cassini views of Titan's poles (with bonus Enceladus)
Image processing enthusiast Ian Regan produced a pretty view of Titan's lake-filled north pole, now visible to Cassini's cameras in the summer sun.
Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly alert: SpaceX doesn't expect to stick upcoming rocket landing
SpaceX is launching the SES-9 communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. But the company says a successful first stage drone ship landing is
UPDATED: ESA activates a new old space camera
Inspired by the Mars Webcam on Mars Express, ESA's Cluster mission has turned on a camera on the Cluster spacecraft for the first time since their launch more than 15 years ago. UPDATE: It has now acquired images of Earth.
Virgin Galactic Unveils New SpaceShipTwo
Nearly 16 months after Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo was destroyed in a fatal accident, the company is getting ready to fly again.
In Pictures: Cygnus Takes out the Trash
Early this morning, Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra released a trash-filled Cygnus cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station. Orbital ATK flight controllers will send Cygnus into Earth's atmosphere for a controlled reentry Saturday morning.
NASA's New Budget Would Gut Europa But Otherwise Support Planetary Exploration
It’s clear that the President’s budget officers really don’t want to fund a mission to Europa. Other than that, the proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget submitted by the President last week to Congress would be great for planetary exploration.
SLS Mockup Finds Path through Southern U.S.
The SLS core stage pathfinder is a 65-meter-long, full-size mockup of the actual rocket's main section. Just like SLS, building, assembling and utilizing the pathfinder involves multiple contractors and NASA centers around the southern U.S.
Data Dump: NASA's Planetary Science Program By the Numbers
We provide you the gritty budget breakdown by program and mission for NASA's Planetary Science Division.
Light plays on a Martian crater rim
Recently, space image processing enthusiast Thomas Appéré noticed that Curiosity had taken five photos of exactly the same spot on the rim of Gale crater, identical but for being taken at different times of day. That spot was due north of the rover, so the rising and lowering Sun illuminates the rounded hummocks of the crater rim differently from early morning to early afternoon.
A new hope for a microphone on Mars: Enhancing Mars 2020 science with sound
When the Mars 2020 rover lands, we may finally hear the first audio recordings from the Martian surface.