drew@drewexmachina.com
Mention NASA’s Viking mission to Mars in 1976 and its first-of-its-kind in situ search for life on another planet immediately comes to mind. While astrobiological experiments […]
In recent years it seems that Mars has dominated NASA’s planetary exploration program while proposals to study our twin-planet-gone-bad, Venus, are being repeatedly rejected. Something similar […]
As NASA’s Juno spacecraft approaches Jupiter, there has been growing interest among space enthusiasts in the views its camera will return. JunoCam, as it is called, […]
Over the last half a century or so, NASA has managed to land operating payloads on a number of bodies in our solar system. Naturally the […]
Discovered in 1781 by German-born British astronomer, William Herschel, Uranus was the first planet in our Solar System to be discovered since ancient times. In the […]
The largest of Saturn’s diverse family of moons, Titan is also arguably one of the more interesting worlds in our Solar System with a thick haze-filled […]
Back when I was growing up during the first “Golden Age” of planetary exploration, one planetary exploration program stood out among the rest: NASA’s Mariner series […]
In recent years it seems that NASA regularly extends the missions of its long-lived planetary spacecraft sometimes far beyond their original primary missions. The armada of […]
The history of planetary exploration is filled with proposals that never flew. While there are some that, at best, had dubious chances at success, there are […]
Most space exploration enthusiasts are familiar with the story of Mariner 4: On July 15, 1965 (Universal Time), Mariner 4 made the first close encounter of […]
An advanced spacecraft streaking towards the most distant planetary encounter to date finally reaches its destination. As the spacecraft nears its closest approach to its target, […]
For the better part of a quarter of a century, Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa has caught the attention of scientists and the lay public alike. Although […]
