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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
We love Lucy
Everything you need to know about NASA’s Lucy mission to the Trojan asteroids.
NASA’s Lucy mission: an odyssey to the Trojan asteroids
On October 16, NASA's Lucy spacecraft is expected to depart for the Trojan asteroids — rocky bodies that share an orbit with Jupiter.
The Space Advocate Newsletter, October 2021
Lucy kicks off a beefier era of Discovery.
Some good old-fashioned space mysteries
Exploration is teaching us a lot about the cosmos, and a lot about how much we still don’t know.
The shape of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is changing. Here’s why.
A new study says the winds within the famous Great Red Spot are speeding up in some places and slowing down in others.
Rocky worlds rock
This week we're all about the rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Supereruptions and psychedelia
The surface of Mars can teach us about its history and, with the right imaging techniques, conjure flashbacks of 60s psychedelia.
The best seat in the solar system
Look at some extraordinary views from space and imagine what you’d see if you had the best seat on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
Looking forward to looking into deep space
The newest issue of The Planetary Report takes a look at the James Webb Space Telescope and what it will teach us about the cosmos.
The Fermi paradox and Drake equation: Where are all the aliens?
Theoretical work in SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is dominated by two key concepts: the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation.
SpaceX Inspiration4 mission: Your questions, answered
SpaceX is preparing to launch the first-ever entirely civilian mission — Inspiration4 — into Earth orbit.
The Space Advocate Newsletter, September 2021
It's time to look beyond 2024.
Your impact: September equinox 2021
Members helped us send letters to the U.S. Congress asking for increased funding for NASA's planetary defense efforts.
The James Webb Space Telescope is almost ready for launch
Webb is the largest, most powerful, most complex and most expensive space telescope ever built.
The people's space telescopes
How space advocates came to the rescue of the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004.
For every world, there is a season
When we explore space we see familiar things: seasons, ice caps, and maybe someday even plants.
Why space exploration is always worthwhile
A toolkit to help you advocate for the value of exploring space even when there are important problems to be solved here on Earth.
Dunes and doppelgangers
What can we learn from patterns in the Martian sands? And what’s that Earth-like planet over there?
Planetary protection: How to explore Mars and other worlds responsibly
Planetary protection means protecting other worlds from Earthly microbes and containing possible microbes that sample return missions might bring back to Earth.
What are the most Earth-like worlds we’ve found?
The ongoing hunt for Earth-like worlds, especially over the next few decades, hopes to illuminate how ordinary and extraordinary our planet may be.