I recently got a chance to interview and profile the people behind a collaboration between Smithsonian and the Harvard College Observatory who are crowdsourcing the transcription of logbooks for thousands of photographic plates. It’s a massive undertaking that will give scientists access to a hundred years of astronomical data. – Simon
On the heels of JPL’s MAVEN, India’s MOM is set to arrive on Mars.
After a 10-month trek, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is expected to reach Mars on at 7:41 a.m. India Standard Time on Wednesday, Sept. 24 (that’s 10:11 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23) after a firing its engine for 24 minutes to enter orbit around the planet. Confirmation of the success (or failure) of this crucial maneuver should come to ground control minutes later, mission officials have said.