(From west to east)

• Juno is in the constellation of Ophiuchus.
• Vesta is in the constellation of Cetus.
• Pallas is in the constellation of Eridanus .
• Information about the Minor Planets can be found at the Minor Planet Observer website.

"PASADENA, Calif.-NASA's Cassini mission is closing one chapter of its journey at Saturn and embarking on a new one with a two-year mission that will address new questions and bring it closer to two of its most intriguing targets-Titan and Enceladus.

On June 30, Cassini completes its four-year prime mission and begins its extended mission, which was approved in April of this year.

Among other things, Cassini revealed the Earth-like world of Saturn's moon Titan and showed the potential habitability of another moon, Enceladus. These two worlds are primary targets in the two-year extended mission, dubbed the Cassini Equinox Mission. This time period also will allow for monitoring seasonal effects on Titan and Saturn, exploring new places within Saturn's magnetosphere, and observing the unique ring geometry of the Saturn equinox in August of 2009 when sunlight will pass directly through the plane of the rings."

Cassini Imaging Team

"New Horizons crossed the orbit of Saturn on June 8, passing yet another interplanetary milepost on its voyage to Pluto and the icy environs of the Kuiper Belt.

Spinning in healthy,Êelectronic hibernation, New Horizons reached a distance of 10.06 astronomical units (about 935 million miles or 1.5 billion kilometers) from the Sun at 10:00 universal time, becoming the first spacecraft to journey beyond SaturnÕs orbit since Voyager 2 passed the ringed planet nearly 27 years ago. In fact, Voyager 1 and 2, at the edge of the SunÕs heliosphere some 100 AU away, are the only spacecraft operating farther out than New Horizons.

New Horizons reached Saturn's distance just two years and four months after launch - by far a faster transit to Saturn than any previous spacecraft. (Voyager 1, the previous record holder, made the trip in approximately three years and two months.)"

New Horizons gallery."

"NASA's Dawn spacecraft has successfully completed the initial checkout phase of the mission and begun its interplanetary cruise phase, which is highlighted by nearly continuous thrusting of its ion propulsion system. Dawn is on a 8-year, 3-billion mile journey to asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres."

"Jim McAdams, the MESSENGER mission design lead engineer, was named the 2008 Engineer of the Year by the Baltimore Section, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Each spring, this chapter of AIAA honors those in the aerospace community who have made significant contributions during the previous year.

McAdams of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., 'optimized the trajectory and maneuver schedule, designing one of the most challenging planetary missions in history,' said APL's Tom Strikwerda, who on May 28 presented the award: a plaque and a 24-inch-high trophy that McAdams will keep until passing it on to the next winner a year from now.

Because Mercury lies deep within the Sun's gravity well, travel to the planet requires an extremely large velocity change. A spacecraft traveling to Mercury speeds up as it falls toward the Sun; so MESSENGER's trajectory had to be designed to most effectively utilize the gravitational pull of Venus and Mercury to achieve most of the required velocity change."

"PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has found evidence of salt deposits. These deposits point to places where water once was abundant and where evidence might exist of possible Martian life from the Red Planet's past.

A team led by Mikki Osterloo of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, found approximately 200 places on southern Mars that show spectral characteristics consistent with chloride minerals. Chloride is part of many types of salt, such as sodium chloride or table salt. The sites range from about a square kilometer (0.4 square mile) to 25 times that size."

"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 16-27, 2008

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

• Clouds (Released 16 June 2008)
  
• Channel and Graben (Released 17 June 2008)
  
• Collapse (Released 18 June 2008)
  
• Lava Channel (Released 19 June 2008)
  
• Polar Dunes (Released 20 June 2008)
  
• Polar Dunes (Released 23 June 2008)
  
• Mix of Textures (Released 24 June 2008)
  
• Lyot Crater Dunes (Released 25 June 2008)
  
• Olympus Mons (Released 26 June 2008)
  
• Cerulli Channels (Released 27 June 2008)
  
• 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: New Tricks for an Old Rover - sol 1574-1579, June 6-12, 2008

"To conserve energy and protect one of the on-board spectrometers, spacecraft operators have established the first major change to planning for the Mars Exploration Rover mission since the end of the primary mission, which lasted for 90 days in early 2004.

Spirit's scientists have declared that their highest priority for the winter is preserving the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, an instrument that identifies minerals in rocks from a distance. To do this, the rover heats the instrument overnight and into the morning of every sol. These heaters have been running longer as winter temperatures have dropped and are now averaging about 55 watt-hours per sol."

Opportunity Status: Bustin' Loose! - sol 1551-1557, Jun 04-10, 2008

"Opportunity finally escaped the Martian sand and backed up onto solid rock inside "Victoria Crater." Driving backward on Martian day, or sol, 1557 (June 10, 2008), the rover successfully moved the last of its six wheels up over a rocky ledge. The successful maneuver freed Opportunity to follow another route that will bring the rover closer to the cliff known as "Cape Verde." From there, the rover will collect high-resolution, panoramic images of rock layers in the promontory.

Also this week, the rover engineering team had the honor of hosting Houston-area Congressman and Mars exploration enthusiast John Culberson. The congressman participated in the planning of sols 1557 and 1558 (June 10-11, 2008). Culberson even helped design a science observation of the cobble informally named "Barnes" in honor of Virgil E. Barnes, former emeritus professor of geological sciences at The University of Texas at Austin."

Landing sites