(From west to east)

• Vesta is in the constellation of Scorpius.
• Harmonia is in the constellation of Capricornus.
• Pallas is in the constellation of Pegasus.
• Information about the Minor Planets can be found at the Minor Planet Observer website.

"This five-frame sequence of New Horizons images captures the giant plume from Io's Tvashtar volcano. Snapped by the probe's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) as the spacecraft flew past Jupiter earlier this year, this first-ever "movie" of an Io plume clearly shows motion in the cloud of volcanic debris, which extends 330 kilometers (200 miles) above the moon's surface. Only the upper part of the plume is visible from this vantage point - the plume's source is 130 kilometers (80 miles) below the edge of Io's disk, on the far side of the moon.

The appearance and motion of the plume is remarkably similar to an ornamental fountain on Earth, replicated on a gigantic scale. The knots and filaments that allow us to track the plume's motion are still mysterious, but this movie is likely to help scientists understand their origin, as well as provide unique information on the plume dynamics."

"WASHINGTON - After studying Mars four times as long as originally planned, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter appears to have succumbed to battery failure caused by a complex sequence of events involving the onboard computer memory and ground commands.

The causes were released today in a preliminary report by an internal review board. The board was formed to look more in-depth into why NASA's Mars Global Surveyor went silent in November 2006 and recommend any processes or procedures that could increase safety for other spacecraft.

Mars Global Surveyor last communicated with Earth on Nov. 2, 2006. Within 11 hours, depleted batteries likely left the spacecraft unable to control its orientation.

"The loss of the spacecraft was the result of a series of events linked to a computer error made five months before the likely battery failure," said board Chairperson Dolly Perkins, deputy director-technical of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md."

• All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived here.

Information about how to submit requests is online at the new Mars Orbiter Camera Target Request Site, at http://www.msss.com/plan/intro"

Newly-released MOC images can be seen in the MOC Gallery, a website maintained by Malin Space Science Systems, the company that built and operates MOC for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA.

"Using observations by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, scientists have discovered that water ice lies at variable depths over small-scale patches on Mars.

The findings draw a much more detailed picture of underground ice on Mars than was previously available. They suggest that when NASA's next Mars mission, the Phoenix Mars Lander, starts digging to icy soil on an arctic plain in 2008, it might find the depth to the ice differs in trenches just a few feet apart. The new results appear in the May 3, 2007, issue of the journal Nature."

"A simulated fly-through using the newly assembled imagery is available online.

The fly-through plus tools for wandering across and zooming into the large image are at http://themis.asu.edu."

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images
Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) website: http://themis.asu.edu/

June 25-29, 2007

The following new images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Layered Fill (Released 25 June 2007)
  
• Fractures & Dunes (Released 26 June 2007)
  
• Windstreak (Released 27 June 2007)
  
• Samara Vallis (Released 28 June 2007)
  
• Dual Landslides (Released 29 June 2007)
  
• All of the THEMIS images are archived here.

The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established by the Planetary Data System at: http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/"

Spirit Status: Spirit's Solar Power Levels Continue to Rise - sol 1226-1233, June 27, 2007

"Spring cleaning continued on NASA's Spirit rover, as atmospheric turbulence on Mars cleared away more dust from the solar panels on the rover's 1,233rd sol, or Martian day, of exploration (June 22, 2007). As a result of this most recent dust-clearing event, Spirit out-produced the electrical energy of Spirit's twin, the Opportunity rover on the opposite side of Mars, by about 50 watt-hours. (That's the amount of electricity needed to burn a 50-watt light bulb for one hour.) Tau measurements estimating the amount of dust in the atmosphere rose from 0.69 to 0.75. (Perfectly clean solar arrays would have a dust factor of 1.0, so the larger the dust factor, the cleaner the arrays.) Electrical energy rose to 738 watt-hours.

In addition, Spirit investigated an unbrushed rock outcrop known as "Nancy Warren," a candidate high-silica target. On sols 1226, 1227, and 1228 (June 15-17, 2007), the rover worked on a second investigation intended to study the brushed surface of the rock. Because the rover did not complete the brushing operation, Spirit ended up taking a second set of measurements that was identical to the first.

On the rover's 1,232nd sol of exploration (June 21, 2007), Spirit attempted to scuff a rock target known as "Virginia Bell" but didn't quite reach it and ended up scuffing a soil exposure about 15 centimeters (6 inches) away, creating a new target that scientists dubbed "Innocent Bystander.""

Opportunity Status: Observing 'Duck Bay' - sol 1200-1205, June 15, 2007

"Right now, Opportunity is safely perched on "Cape Verde" and is observing "Duck Bay" from above. The rover drove four out of the last five sols, covering 196.44 meters (644 feet). The fifth and final D-star (drive software) checkout step ran successfully on Opportunity on sol 1200. The dynamic path planner added in the latest flight software version is now ready for use.

On sol 1204, the post-drive robotic arm unstow stopped short of completion due to an excess attitude change. The actual attitude change fell well within the 5-degree limit and is consistent with a robotic arm unstow activity. The engineering team traced the miscalculation to a possible bug in the flight software and a full investigation is underway."

Landing sites

"NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into safe mode -- a precautionary status with minimized activities -- on March 14. It remained healthy and in communication with Earth, but with no science observations, while the flight team examined engineering data. On March 20, the team brought the spacecraft back out of safe mode.

Science instruments were powered up March 21 and are resuming normal science operations today, March 22.

When it went into safe mode, the spacecraft switched, for the first time in the mission, to a backup ("B") duplicate flight computer on board. Diagnosis of the "A" computer has not yet revealed what caused the switch to the B side."