Riding with Robots on the High Frontier http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog Saddle up for a trip with the robotic spacecraft now exploring the wild black yonder! Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:56:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en Signing Off… http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1657 http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1657#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:50:45 +0000 admin http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1657 Earthrise

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

- TS Eliot

Family matters call, and now it’s time to hang up the spurs, at least for now. Thank you to the thousands of fellow travelers during the past few years who rode along. Your company on such an extraordinary journey was a privilege and a pleasure.

Thank you once again to the modern-day Magellans of many nations who dream, build and fly the space robots. I think it’s safe to speak for all the riders here when I say: your work is worth it.

My apologies to those who recently signed up or who recently downloaded the widgets. This service may reappear in the future on some other orbit.

Bill Dunford
February, 2009

]]> http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1657 Hayabusa Heading Home http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1649 http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1649#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:30:15 +0000 admin http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1649 The asteroid sample return spacecraft Hayabusa, hit by a series of hard luck over the years, has restarted its ion engines, and is headed back to Earth carrying a bit of an asteroid (probably). Learn more about this Japanese mission that has suffered a leaky rocket system and other disappointments, but which just might have managed to gather a little asteroid dust in its sample collector. Scientists hope to find out for sure if and when the craft makes it back to Earth for its scheduled landing in 2010.

]]> http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1649 Night Side http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1646 http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1646#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:10:10 +0000 admin http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1646 Saturn's rings and Tethys

Cassini’s view as it passed through the shadow of Saturn and caught a glimpse of the backlit rings and the ice moon Tethys. This image comes to us in natural color as processed by Gordan Ugarkovic.

Sent by: Cassini | From: Saturn | Released: January, 2009 | Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI/Ugarkovic | Image source

]]> http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1646 Strike Zone http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1643 http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1643#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:05:33 +0000 admin http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1643

Sometime between May 2003 and September 2007 an object hit the Martian atmosphere and broke up into small fragments that slammed into this plain, digging craters and blasting away dust from the surface. Scientists think that colliding pressure waves from two impacts of nearly identical size drew the straight line in the dust. This image shows an area a few hundred meters across. Meteors similar to the one that shattered here routinely cross the Earth’s path as well, but usually explode or burn away in our thicker atmosphere before they reach the surface.

Sent by: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | From: Mars | Released: January, 2009 | Credit: NASA/JPL/UA | Image source

]]> http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1643 News Roundup for February 4 http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1640 http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1640#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:35:49 +0000 admin http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?p=1640 Recent robotic space exploration news from around the world and around the solar system:

See all the latest feeds on the news page.

]]> http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1640