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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
News brief: OSIRIS-REx finds water on Bennu
OSIRIS-REx team members held a press briefing today at the 2018 American Geophysical Union meeting, and announced that the mission has already found water on asteroid Bennu.
News brief: Voyager 2 has passed beyond the heliopause
Voyager 2 is now outside the reach of the solar wind, traveling in the interstellar medium. Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 has a working plasma spectrometer so will be doing exciting new science. It is expected to last another 5 to 10 years, though not with all instruments operating.
Liftoff for Chang'e-4!
At 02:22 local time 8 December (18:22 on 7 December UTC), a Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, carrying the Chang'e-4 lander and rover toward the Moon.
"We have arrived!" OSIRIS-REx is officially at asteroid Bennu
After a 2-billion-kilometer journey that began in September 2016, NASA's OSIRS-REx spacecraft has arrived at Bennu.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Team Continues Search for Opportunity’s Signal as Windy Season Begins
The longest-lived Martian explorer remained silent in November, presumably still sleeping at her site halfway down Perseverance Valley, along the western rim of Endeavour Crater.
After the Success of InSight, It’s Time for NASA to Commit to Mars Sample Return
In the brief period of public and political goodwill generated by NASA's latest success at the Red Planet, now is the time to secure a commitment for the next steps at Mars: sample return.
New Cameras on Mars!
There was jubilation when InSight landed, but I'm just as happy to be writing about a distinct InSight event: The flow of raw images sent from Mars, straight to the Web, has begun.
InSight has landed (UPDATED)
InSight touched down on Mars today, bringing NASA's total of successful Mars landers to 8 and total number of active NASA Mars missions to 6.
This Thanksgiving, avoid the politics and talk space instead
If you're expecting to gather with extended family on Thanksgiving, avoid the politics. Here are some conversation starters to use at the dinner table that everyone can engage in.
Here's where China is looking to land its 2020 Mars rover
NASA's Mars 2020 rover isn't the only spacecraft heading to Mars in two years.
We're going to Jezero!
NASA announced this morning the selection of Jezero crater for the landing site of the Mars 2020 mission. Jezero is a 45-kilometer-wide crater that once held a lake, and now holds a spectacular ancient river delta.
Hayabusa2 prepares for holiday break as Sun passes between Earth and asteroid Ryugu
The spacecraft will spend the end of 2018 a safe distance from Ryugu, as the Sun's position makes communications with Earth spotty.
What to Expect When InSight Lands on Mars
If all goes well, anxious space fans on Earth will learn of a successful InSight landing on Mars on Monday, 26 November 2018, at 19:53 UTC. Here's a preview of all the landing day events.
Here's (almost) everything you need to know about Israel's Moon lander
SpaceIL, a privately funded Israeli non-profit, will attempt to land a small spacecraft on the Moon in early 2019.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: NASA Green-Lights Team to Continue Opportunity Recovery Plan into 2019
October came and went without a beep from Opportunity, silence that was still no surprise for some, but a little discouraging for other members of the rover team.
Farewell, Kepler
NASA's Kepler space telescope helped us find our place in the cosmos.
Following perfect launch, BepiColombo takes self-portraits from space
BepiColombo's launch was nominal -- the best thing any launch can be. Following launch, the spacecraft documented successful solar array and antenna deployments with self-portraits.
Dawn Journal: 11 Years in Space
Dawn is celebrating its 11th anniversary of spaceflight. This is the last dawnniversary the spacecraft will see.
Collecting a sample from asteroid Ryugu is going to be dicey
Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft was scheduled to touch down on Ryugu later this month, but that has been delayed to early 2019.
Heiligenschein Throughout the Solar System
When planetary scientist Brittney Cooper was scrolling through the downlinked images of Hayabusa2’s approach of asteroid Ryugu, a familiar sight caught her attention.