First installment, COSPAR 2024 highlights (per my blogger’s prerogative) (see Finalprogram-2024.pdf) B0.2 Instrumentation for Planetary ExplorationMain Organizer: Dirri, Fabrizio Deputy: Shanmugam, M. B0.2-0001-24 09:00 (solicited) Planetary Missions of India: Instruments Review and Science. Bhardwaj, AnilB0.2-0002-24 09:20 (solicited) Development status of… Read More »2024 COSPAR meeting, Busan- 1
It’s time for another SBAG meeting (NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group, www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/). This one was a bit light; we’re in a moment of history where, by chance, missions are either pending launch (under construction), or launched (in cruise, and nothing… Read More »SBAG, Summer 2024 day 1
The tech media has gotten hold of this, but I’ll add my own context. The International Planetary Probe Workshop was held this week, hosted by Langley Research Center, in nearby Williamsburg, VA. The press makes much of OSIRIS-REx being an… Read More »IPPW ’24- Planetary Probes
Day 2: – The OSIRIS-REx information was specific, possibly a little too far into the weeds. Lots of slides and speech about curation, from lab equipment and handling procedures to particle-request applications and allocation committees. Granted, the point of OSIRIS-REx,… Read More »…ExMAG Spring 2024, continued…
… to conclude. Besides obvious results on Ryugu/Bennu, the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference covered lots of other topics this year. You know, Planetary Science: -The DART mission succeeded, as we saw. An entire session (Tue 8:20 am), Characterization of… Read More »LPSC Meeting 2024, part 3
– The Hera mission (ESA’s follow-up orbiter, after DART) is on track; if there’s an issue, it’s that the switch to Falcon launch requires reconfiguration and retest of the downlink. First Hera comm is just after launch, and now US-practice,… Read More »SBAG, Winter 2024-Day 2