The Minotaur 4 rocket carrying NanoSail-D and other satellites successfully launched from Alaska today

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/rocke...ska-101119.html

Date of AKATSUKI injection to Venus orbit

http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f17/index_e.html

JAXA decided to emit jets from the orbital maneuvering engine (OME) of the AKATSUKI at 8:49:00 a.m. on Dec. 7 (Japan Standard Time, all the following dates and time are in JST) to inject the orbiter into the Venus orbit. Under the current schedule, the OME jet emission will be completed at 9:01:00 a.m. on the same day, and the Venus orbit will be determined around 9:00 p.m. also on the same day after some attitude control maneuvers including the Earth pointing maneuver of the Z axis.

The AKATSUKI will study the Venus atmosphere for about two years after being injected into the Venus orbit

8:49:00 a.m. on Dec. 7 JST (11:49:00 p.m. on Dec. 6 UTC)

****

What I'm wondering is when Akatsuki will start taking images of Venus as the spacecraft nears arrival...and when JAXA will release 'em

Robotic arm is now reattached

The wheels are too big for skateboards, I'll give you that...

Kinda off-topic, but NASA JPL is closing the chat box on the Ustream page... Too many people going on a rant about what if NASA got the U.S. miltary's budget..

The robotic arm should be reattached next Monday, October 25

PS: I still didn't get an answer about the zoom lens' status for MastCam

As of right now (11:28 PM PDT), engineers are still working on Curiosity. And a message at the top of the UStream page mentions that the wheels will go back on tomorrow

Anyword on the status of the zoom lens for MastCam? Will they be complete in time before the end of this year?

Watch live footage of Curiosity being assembled (or disassembled...as the wheels and robotic arm were removed again)

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

LightSail-1 Video Update: Construction Begins!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf-NeZwBko0...player_embedded

New Dawn Journal is up

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_09_27_10.asp

ChemCam instrument delivered to JPL for installation onto Curiosity

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-310

Nice photos... Pretty interesting that they already uninstalled Curiosity's robotic arm

Five Things About NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-302

One error I found in this article is Pathfinder being called Curiosity's rover predecessor. Pathfinder is obviously the lander. Sojourner should've been listed.

Any new development on the Argo mission proposal? Just wondering.

NASA's Next Mars Rover Rolls Over Ramps

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-297

A new article on Solar Probe Plus... 5 science instruments have been selected for the mission

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/scien...2010/02sep_spp/

So will NASA or The Planetary Society have a "Send Your Name to the Sun" campaign before the launch in 2018?

New Dawn Journal is up

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_08_30_10.asp

The Kepler Planet Counter on the website should be updated soon...it still stands at 005.

Don't forget GRAIL and Lightsail-1

According to this animated image, IKAROS will arrive at Venus on December 18 (Japan time)...11 days after Akatsuki does

http://twitpic.com/2g57yr/full

New Dawn Journal is up

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_07_26_10.asp

Funny video. Hopefully all of you JPL folks will have a much bigger reason to do the Robot Dance in November '11 and then August of '12

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=27823
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=27824
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=27825
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=27826
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=27827

Photos of the RTG being installed onto New Horizons inside Atlas V's payload shroud

Props to Emily for capturing Curiosity's baby steps and turning 'em into an animated GIF

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002597/

Curiosity Rover Grows by Leaps and Bounds

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?rele...elease_2010-245

Talk about a growth-spurt. In one week, Curiosity grew by approximately 1 meter (3.5 feet) when spacecraft technicians and engineers attached the rover's neck and head (called the Remote Sensing Mast) to its body. At around 2 meters (about 7 feet) tall, the next rover to Mars now stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Mounted on Curiosity's mast are two navigation cameras (Navcams), two mast cameras (Mastcam), and the laser-carrying chemistry camera (ChemCam).

While it now has a good head on its shoulders, Curiosity's "eyes" (the Mastcam), have been blindfolded in a protective silvery material. The Mastcam, containing two digital cameras, will soon be unveiled, so engineers can test its picture-taking abilities.

Up next today (July 23), the towering rover will take its first baby steps: a slow roll on the floor of the clean room where it's being built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Watch Curiosity's progress live from the clean room on Ustream until 3:30 p.m. PDT today: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl .