Articles
Venus
Byrne, P. “Venus: Inevitability or Catastrophe.” Sky & Telescope (October 2021): 12. On the evolution of the planet’s surface and atmosphere.
Carroll, M. “Revealing Venus.” Astronomy (May 2023): 22. Nice overview of our present knowledge and planned missions.
Grinspoon, D. “Sending Astronauts to Venus.” Sky & Telescope (November 2022): 11. Short piece on what astronauts could accomplish from orbit.
Lakdawalla, E. “Venus Renaissance.” Sky & Telescope (May 2022): 12. What we know and what future missions could reveal.
Sheehan, W. “Unveiling the Clouds of Venus.” Astronomy (Dec. 2021): 48. History of trying to understand the clouds of neighbor planet.
Zimmerman, R. “Taking Venus by Storm.” Astronomy (October 2008): 66. On results from the Venus Express mission.
Mars
Barbuzano, J. “The Mystery of the Martian Moons.” Sky & Telescope (April 2021): 34. Different ideas on how Mars acquired two small moons.
Bell, J. “Flying with Ingenuity on Mars.” Sky & Telescope (August 2022): 12. Nice intro to the helicopter and what it has been able to do.
Bell, J. “Is There Life on Mars.” Astronomy (September 2019): 24. What previous missions have told us and what we would like to know.
Bell, J. “Martian Weather Report.” Sky & Telescope (December 2019): 22. Authoritative review of martian seasons and what it’s like on the surface of Mars.
Bell, J. “New Mars Rover Begins its Mission.” Astronomy (February 2021): 24. On the Perseverance Rover and the Ingenuity Helicopter and what they hope to accomplish.
Bell, J. & Sheehan, W. “50 Years on Mars.” Astronomy (November 2021): 16. How Mariner 9 and other early missions set the stage for current exploration.
Evans, B. “Curiosity’s 10 Years on Mars.” Astronomy (September 2022): 24. Story of the rover mission, its images and discoveries.
Hall, S. “Opportunity’s End.” Sky & Telescope (September 2019): 24. On what astronomers have learned from the Opportunity Rover on Mars.
Lakdawalla, E. “The History of Water on Mars.” Sky & Telescope (September 2013): 16. Clear review of our current understanding of the role of water on Mars in different epochs.
Redd, N. “Twenty Years around the Red Planet.” Astronomy (December 2020): 20. What the Mars Odyssey mission has taught us.
Rice, M. “The Many Personalities of NASA’s Mars Rovers.” Astronomy (April 2023): 21. Overview of the capabilities and work of the rovers that have explored the red planet’s surface.
Websites
Venus
European Space Agency Venus Express Page: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Venus_Express.
NASA Solar System Exploration Venus Page: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus.
Russian (Soviet) Venus Missions and Images: http://mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm.
Venus Atlas app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/venus-atlas/id317310503?mt=8.
Mars
European Space Agency Mars Express Page: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express.
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/.
Jet Propulsion Lab Mars Exploration Page: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Mars Globe HD app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mars-globe-hd/id376020224?mt=8.
Mars Rover 360° Panorama: http://www.360cities.net/image/curiosity-rover-martian-solar-day-2#171.10,26.50,70.0. Interactive.
NASA Center for Mars Exploration: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/main/index.html.
NASA Solar System Exploration Mars Page: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars.
Videos
Venus
Collection of Magellan Venus Radar Mapping Results: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xrMu3jq6P8. 2012 NASA collection of several flyovers of Venus features, without narration, just music. The height of features is exaggerated for clarity (3:00).
Magellan Maps Venus: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005y07s. 2011 BBC TV clip with Dr. Ellen Stofan on the radar images of Venus and what they tell us (3:00).
Magellan Radar Maps of Venus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK4JnGTCawM. Fly-overs of six regions on Venus from the Jet Propulsion Labs with music and explanatory text (8:00).
Planet Venus: The Deadliest Planet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqFVxWfVtoo. National Geographic’s Venus surface and atmosphere summary (2:00).
Venus Close-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUy2k-edEo. 2014 summary of the work of the Venus Express mission from the European Space Agency (3:00).
Mars
7 Minutes of Terror: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1090. 2012 NASA dramatic overview of Curiosity rover’s complex landing sequence (5:00).
15 Years Imaging the Red Planet: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2019/01/Fifteen_years_imaging_the_Red_Planet#.XfGRNA9OXRk.link. ESA’s un-narrated flyover of some of the most spectacular Mars images from Mars Express (5:00).
50 Years of Mars Exploration: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1395. 2015 NASA summary of all Mars missions through MAVEN; good quick overview (4:00).
Flight into Mariner Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUbQM47QXwQ. 2012 video tour of Valles Marineris canyons, narrated by planetary scientist Phil Christensen (4:00).
Grand Canyons of Earth and Mars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbap5IlMQI. 2019 short comparing the two canyon systems with flyover videos (4:00).
Ingenuity Helicopter’s 13th Flight: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-captures-challenging-flight-by-mars-helicopter. View from Perseverance of a nice flight of the helicopter drone (2:00).
Methane Stinks? On Earth, Mars, and Beyond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0K1jkLZiZQ. 2016 NASA video on the search for methane on Mars and elsewhere in the solar system, and what it tells us about the worlds where it’s found (5:00).
NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover on Vera Rubin Ridge: 360 View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcJLZfPiyfc. A nice martian panorama, in which you can move your cursor and see fully around the scene (the location is named for a noted woman astronomer).
Opportunity: NASA Rover Completes Mars Mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ll-VHYxWXU. A 2019, narrated, illustrated, mission summary from NASA (4:00).
Our Curiosity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XczKXWvokm4. Mars Curiosity rover 2-year anniversary video narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Felicia Day (6:00).
Postcards from Mars: The Latest from the International Armada of Robot Explorers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7TU1vFL8Us. A 2021 talk in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, by Mars expert Dr. Jim Bell of Arizona State University, summarizing the history of Mars exploration, with some of the best images (1:33:00).