Lunar Legacy February Lecture Tonight
13 February 2019Dr. Ivo Lucchitta, and Dr. Baerbel Lucchitta Scientist Emeritus at Astrogeology Science Center, will be giving a talk entitled From the Mountain to the Moon on Wednesday February 13th about their personal experiences as USGS scientists helping with the Apollo missions, from training… Read More
USGS Flagstaff Science Campus back from shutdown: A notice from the SCD
12 February 2019We would like to take this time to extend thanks to our community for their unwavering support during the partial government shutdown. The USGS Flagstaff Science Campus is back fully operational as of January 28 from the longest shutdown in history lasting 35 days. More than 30 businesses in… Read More
Get to know us: Astrogeology
7 February 2019In 1960, Eugene Shoemaker and a team of other scientists founded the field of astrogeology to develop tools, methods, and training for the Apollo astronauts exploring the Moon. In 1962, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Branch of Astrogeology was established in Menlo Park, California; and in 1963,… Read More
Sols 2301-2303: Looking Forward to the Clay-Bearing Unit
28 January 2019This weekend's plan started off on Sol 2301 with some Mastcam atmospheric observations, followed by ChemCam analysis of "Loch Ness" and "Loch Skeen," examples of brown and gray bedrock. ChemCam also had a long-distance image mosaic of an interesting outcrop in the clay-bearing unit. Once the… Read More
Sol 2164: Science and Good Times at Rock Hall
19 December 2018We are still very excited and happy that the final drill hole, “Rock Hall,” on Vera Rubin Ridge was successful over the weekend. Now we get to analyze the drilled sample with rover instruments. We are planning one sol today, and the big event will be delivering some of the Rock Hall… Read More
Mike and the Moon
12 December 2018We had some friends visit while they were on vacation in northern Arizona over the Thanksgiving holiday this year. One night after dinner the topic of conversation drifted to my work with the USGS Astrogeology Science Center here in Flagstaff as an IT Specialist. They had seen Internet articles… Read More
Watching InSight for a Successful Landing
28 November 2018On November 26, the InSight Lander safely landed in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars. It is amazing how NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has made landing on Mars look so easy. It is not. Years in the making, this joint American, French, and German collaboration, has the primary… Read More
My Journey to Geology and BEYOND
9 November 2018My journey to geology started one class at a time. In my mid-twenties, with a full-time office job, life seemed sweet, except there was a void in my education that needed filling. I began taking classes, part-time, at Coconino Community College. I enrolled in each science course available, and… Read More
Sol 2223: Optimism for “Highfield”
6 November 2018On Sol 2222, Curiosity drove ~10 m towards the “Lake Orcadie” location, in the hopes that we would be able to drill the gray Jura member here. Today’s plan is focused on characterizing the target “Highfield,” the bright patch of outcrop shown in the middle… Read More
So long to NASA's Dawn spacecraft: mission ending today!
1 November 2018NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, launched in September 2007, ended its long journey today. After failed communications and subsequent analyses of the cause, scientists concluded Dawn ran out of hydrazine fuel. This comes as no surprise as NASA announced in October 2017 that the… Read More
