Planetary

1. Israeli Beresheet Moon lander ships to Florida for mid-February launch

   Launch is currently set for 19 February, and Beresheet will spend two months traveling to the Moon ahead of touchdown in April.

2. Miseries mount as shutdown drags on

   The partial government shutdown that shuttered NASA continues with no end in sight. The U.S. space program sits idle, the vast majority of its workforce sent home. Space science and exploration projects are disrupted. Paychecks are absent. And an unsettling realization has dawned on hundreds of thousands of public employees and contractors affected by the shutdown: this time is different.

3. Planetary Deep Drill completes second field test

   The work builds on a Planetary Society-sponsored test and paves the way for an ambitious expedition in Greenland this year.

4. Slava Linkin, 1937-2019

   Slava Linkin, one of the leading planetary scientists in the Soviet Union and later Russia, passed away on 16 January 2019. Viachelslav Mikhailovich Linkin was an enormously important participant in Planetary Society history.

5. Your Guide to the Total Lunar Eclipse on 20 January

   The eclipse will be visible throughout most of North America, South America, the eastern Pacific Ocean, the western Atlantic Ocean, Europe, and western Africa.