Articles

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

Hard-working spacecraft and even harder-working microbes

The Soyuz spacecraft have been helping humans get to and from space for decades, but that’s nothing compared to the billions of years that microorganisms have been making life on Earth possible.

Moonshadow, Moonshadow

The Moon casts shadows on itself and on Earth, environmental concerns overshadow a test launch’s success, and exoplanets are awesome (beyond a shadow of a doubt).

When the Psyche mission missed its launch date in 2022, it caused a ripple-effect of delays and budget woes for other JPL-led missions. Dr. Laurie Leshin, JPL's new director, shares her insights into the unique challenges facing her team and what she's doing to change JPL for the better.

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.

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.

Juice launches on mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons

The spacecraft will explore Jupiter's moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, all three of which may harbor subsurface oceans.

A mission to pull back the shroud

VERITAS would peer through Venus’ clouds to study its surface like never before, but it needs your help.

Juice launch and mission preview: What to expect

Juice is ready to launch on a mission to uncover the secrets of Jupiter's icy moons.

Why we need VERITAS

NASA's first mission to Venus in decades is in danger. This is why VERITAS is worth saving.

The Planetary Society, American Geophysical Union, and Prominent Academic Institutions Call on Congress to Save VERITAS Mission to Venus

In a joint effort led by The Planetary Society, major organizations and academic institutions are calling on Congress to save the Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR, Topography And Spectroscopy (VERITAS) mission by establishing a 2029 launch date, a 2-year delay from the original baseline schedule.

Unusual Uranus! Moist Moon! Volcanic Venus!

A planet shows its pole, another shows possible volcanic activity, and the Moon keeps surprising us with more water.

Asteroids worth getting psyched about

New discoveries from Ryugu, material heading our way from Bennu, and anticipation for a mission to Psyche.

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.

Volcanic Venus, myriad moons, and space sonification

Learn all about the possible volcanic activity found on Venus, the facts about a hyped-up near-Earth asteroid, Jupiter’s newest moons, and what space images sound like.