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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

What are planets made of?

A look at the compositions of terrestrial planets, gas giants, and ice giants in our Solar System.

What went wrong with Mars Sample Return

An edited transcript of an interview with Orlando Figueroa, chair of the independent review team that evaluated NASA's Mars Sample Return program.

Storms and showers

Mars has storms of dust, while Saturn pours down ammonia rain. Here on Earth, we passed through a debris tail to get a special kind of shower.

Hasta la vista, baby

Terminators abound this week in space, and we’ll be back to Mars if NASA gets the budget it needs.

That’s a mare

An unusual lunar feature, Saturn’s shining rings, and Mars’ complex gullies.

Have a nice flight!

Flying on Titan is easy, but not as easy as flying on Deimos. Plus, Juice takes off and Ingenuity captures a view from the air.

Rocket flight and the five dwarfs

Meet the Solar System’s five official dwarf planets, celebrate two major launches, and find out why planets sometimes seem to go backwards across the sky.

What does “Mercury in retrograde” actually mean?

"Mercury in retrograde" is one of the most searched terms relating to the planet. Astrological interpretations aside, apparent retrograde motion is an interesting phenomenon that has to do with orbital speeds and observer perspective.

Want more space? Speak up!

Detailed Mars maps, insights into the Venusian surface, and views of Uranian rings all have one thing in common: they don’t happen without public support for space.

What the search for aliens can learn from life on Earth

When searching for extraterrestrial life, we have to base our hunt on what we know about life on our own planet. This may seem limiting, but there's a lot we can learn from the astonishingly diverse lifeforms we have here on Earth.

Spectacularly crepuscular!

Curiosity captures crepuscular rays on Mars, a new member community launches, and solar sailing takes exploration into the future.

Red hot space

This week’s roundup of space news and exploration inspiration will leave you seeing red (in the best way possible).

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