Postcards From Mars
From Astronomy Daily: Latest Space News by bitesz.com
July 21, 2026 · 17 min · Season 5 · Episode 146
About this episode
The episode discusses NASA's Psyche probe's Mars flyby data, the European Space Agency's Plato mission, and upcoming astronomical events.
Astronomy Daily · S05E146 · “Postcards from Mars” · Tuesday 21 July 2026 NASA’s Psyche probe phones home from its Mars flyby — data and a spellbinding month-long time-lapse — as Europe’s Plato planet-hunter clears its final test. From the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting: a CubeSat that could give us hours of solar-storm warning, and a new way to forecast the Sun’s next active spell. Plus the first pieces of the giant ngVLA radio array, and a Southern Hemisphere meteor shower to catch this week. Story notes & sources 1 · Psyche phones home NASA’s Psyche spacecraft (launched 2023; arriving metal asteroid 16 Psyche in 2029) used a 15 May Mars gravity assist to test its instruments. The neutron spectrometer detected the anticipated count-rate enhancement near closest approach; the gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer, magnetometer and imager all performed well. Data and a month-long Mars time-lapse were released this week. ● NASA/JPL — “Psyche Mission Delivers Mars Flyby Data, Time-lapse Video” (17 Jul 2026) ● Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — LLNL-built gamma-ray sensor’s first planetary measurements (17 Jul 2026) 2 · Plato clears its final exam ESA’s…
Topics covered
- Mars exploration
- NASA missions
- planet-hunting
- solar storms
- astronomy news
Keywords
- Psyche probe
- Mars flyby
- Plato mission
- solar storm warning
- ngVLA radio array
- meteor shower
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NASA, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, ESA
Products: Psyche, Plato
Books & works: Postcards from Mars
Places: Mars, Sun-Earth L2, Southern Hemisphere
More episodes of Astronomy Daily: Latest Space News
- Half the Neutron Stars · September 11, 2026 · 31 min
- A Hundred and Nine Flashes · September 10, 2026 · 28 min
- The Smallest Things Remember · September 9, 2026 · 28 min
- The Moon in Five Hours · September 8, 2026 · 27 min
- Europe Launches From Europe — And Two White Dwarfs Six Minutes Apart · September 7, 2026 · 29 min
- The Hydrogen Map: How a Radio Telescope Heard Half the Universe · September 5, 2026 · 28 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Astronomy Daily: Latest Space News podcast page.