Planetary Society Blog for Tuesday 1 July 2014

Planetary Society Blog

///////////////////////////////////////////
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3705 - June 27, 2014

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 05:30 PM PDT
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest...r-sol3705.html

Opportunity has left the winter haven and is still driving south along the
rim of Endeavour crater, currently exploring an outcrop a few meters from
crater rim.

///////////////////////////////////////////
Our Pathway to Exploration Should Start with the Asteroid Redirect Mission

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 04:01 PM PDT
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest...-with-arm.html

Despite its rejection by the NRC Committee, we argue that the Asteroid
Redirect Mission (ARM) is an affordable and logical first step in such a
sequence. ARM is not only consistent with the NRC Committee’s own
principles, but is also the only near- term initiative that can shape their
recommendations into a sustainable human space exploration program. ARM
would launch U.S. explorers into deep space beyond the Moon, and fits
logically into an exploration program aimed at Mars.