Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan
Author

All

Keyword

All

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

Sunlit rings, nightside Saturn

How Spacecraft Make Color Pictures

Whether you heard the show or not, you'll be fascinated by Emily's great presentation. It also proves she is not part of the great conspiracy that is hiding evidence of alien bases on the moons of Saturn!

Curiosity launches on an Atlas V

What is space exploration worth?

Investing in NASA makes us smarter, improves our lives, and increases our capability to overcome technological challenges. Even more important, though, are the intangible benefits of pride, respect from other nations, respect for our place in the universe, and hope for a future in which we can accomplish even greater things.

GRAIL artist's concept

Ringing in the New Year with two new arrivals to the Moon

The twin GRAIL spacecraft are nearly at the end of their three-month cruises to the Moon. Currently being discussed is an extended mission for GRAIL that would begin after the June eclipse and last through most of December 2012.

Comet Lovejoy by Robert McNaught

Lovely Lovejoy pictures

Just a few of the amazing photos of Comet Lovejoy that have been taken from the southern hemisphere over the last few days. Comet Lovejoy is the first Kreutz sungrazer to have been discovered from the ground in 40 years, and after its surprising survival of its passage close to the Sun, it has been putting on a spectacular show in southern skies.

Comet Lovejoy from the Space Station

A recap of Comet Lovejoy

A timeline of one of the most memorable solar events in recent memory: the observations by six Sun-observing spacecraft of Comet Lovejoy making its perihelion passage.

Blink animation between SAR and photo observations of Iapetus

More radar images of icy moons from Cassini: Iapetus, Enceladus, and Rhea

When I posted about the really cool Cassini SAR images of Enceladus a few weeks ago, I initially wrote that this was the first-ever SAR image of an icy moon other than Titan. Several people (some readers and two members of the Cassini science team!) corrected that statement: Cassini has performed SAR imaging of other icy moons (including Enceladus) before.

Earth-sized planets of Kepler-20

Separating fact from speculation about Kepler-20's Earth-sized planets

A large team of researchers has announced in a Nature article the discovery of not one, but two, Earth-sized planets orbiting a star named Kepler-20. This article separates the observational facts from the quite-likely-to-be-true inferences from the downstream speculations.

NASA meatball logo

NASA, NOAA Spared Further Cuts for Now

On December 16, 2011, the U.S. Senate voted down the House of Representatives bill that would have sliced an additional 1.83 percent from discretionary spending accounts, including NASA and NOAA.

NASA meatball logo

NASA Changes Approach to Send Astronauts Back to Orbit

NASA had planned to release next Monday an RFP (Request for Proposals) in its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. However, due to a funding shortfall, the agency will instead continue to use Space Act Agreements to contract for the development.

< 1 ... 193 194195 ... 332 >