Emily Lakdawalla • October 02, 2017
India's Mars Orbiter Mission has now completed three years in orbit at Mars, and ISRO celebrated the anniversary by releasing the mission's second-year data to the public. Emily Lakdawalla spent a week downloading and processing data for your enjoyment.
A.J.S. Rayl • October 02, 2017
The Martian winter began to grip Endeavour Crater in September, slowing Opportunity's pace. But she braved the brutal cold in Perseverance Valley and followed her commands to visually document everything in sight.
Bruce Betts • October 02, 2017
Bruce Betts provides a guide to all total solar eclipses through the end of the 2020s, with dates and locations.
Jason Davis • September 29, 2017
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk presented an updated version of his Mars colonization plans today, during a widely anticipated talk at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia.
Emily Lakdawalla • September 28, 2017
As expected, OSIRIS-REx's Earth flyby on September 22 was a success. The mission is slowly releasing beautiful images of our home worlds taken by its many cameras following the flyby.
Max Fagin • September 28, 2017
Making Mars habitable will require us to master the conversion of raw Martian materials into resources we can use to survive. Fortunately, Mars has a wealth of usable materials, making it one of the most human-habitable places in the solar system, other than Earth itself.
Donna Stevens • September 27, 2017
The Fall 2017 issue of The Planetary Report is in the mail and available online now to our members!
Jason Davis • September 25, 2017
In a review of Star Trek: Discovery, Jason Davis says he expected Discovery to be a cross between Enterprise and the new reboot movies. Instead, the show turned out to be something else entirely.
Anatoly Zak • September 25, 2017
A Canadian Space Agency proposal would install a solar sail on the outside of the Deep Space Gateway, a miniature space station in lunar orbit.
Larry Crumpler • September 22, 2017
Opportunity is continuing its drive down Perseverance Valley, a possible channel that was cut in the inner wall of the 22 km-diameter Endeavour impact crater on ancient Mars.
Emily Lakdawalla • September 22, 2017
Today in London, Emily Lakdawalla was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of the University by The Open University.
Jason Davis • September 21, 2017
Two of NASA's new astronaut candidates are particularly suited to conduct scientific research on other worlds: Zena Cardman, a geobiologist, and Jessica Watkins, a geologist.
Donna Stevens • September 20, 2017
We at The Planetary Society are saddened to hear about the recent passing of veteran space artist Kim Poor.
Phil Stooke • September 20, 2017
How were the Chang'e 5 and 4 landing sites chosen? Space exploration historian Phil Stooke explains.
Emily Lakdawalla • September 19, 2017
OSIRIS-REx launched on September 8, 2016. Now, a year later, it's returning to its home to get a second boost on to its destination, the asteroid Bennu. It'll test all its cameras on Earth and the Moon in the 10 days after the flyby.
Emily Lakdawalla • September 15, 2017
Cassini is no more. At 10:31 according to its own clock, its thrusters could no longer hold its radio antenna pointed at Earth, and it turned away. A minute later, it vaporized in Saturn’s atmosphere. Its atoms are part of Saturn now.
Emily Lakdawalla • September 13, 2017
Curiosity had a productive three months driving along the front of Vera Rubin Ridge, gathering photos and data with its arm instruments, finally driving up on to the ridge on sol 1809.
Jason Davis • September 11, 2017
The end of the Cassini mission is a harbinger for a looming gap in outer planets exploration missions.
Emily Lakdawalla • September 11, 2017
A timeline of what to expect from the great mission during its final hours.
Paul Schenk • September 08, 2017
Planetary scientist Paul Schenk shares his story of working on the Voyager missions as a JPL intern back in 1979.
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