Articles

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

Hearing Recap: NASA’s FY 2020 Budget Request

On March 27, 2019, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies held a hearing titled, “NASA’s FY 2020 Budget Request.”

T-minus Five Years and Counting

Can NASA really return astronauts to the Moon by 2024?

Beresheet Has Entered Lunar Orbit!

SpaceIL's Beresheet Moon lander successfully entered lunar orbit today after a 6-minute engine burn that began at 14:18 UTC / 10:18 EDT.

Hayabusa2 Safe and Sound after Blasting New Crater on Ryugu

Hayabusa2 successfully used its explosive-packed SCI experiment to create an artificial crater on asteroid Ryugu.

Not a Heart of Ice

Mark Marley explains what planetary scientists mean when they say the word

First Science Results from Hayabusa2 Mission

The Hayabusa2 team held a press briefing last week at LPSC to report newly published results on asteroid Ryugu.

What to Expect When Hayabusa2 Blows a Hole in Asteroid Ryugu

The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft will deploy its Small Carry-on Impactor experiment, SCI, on 5 April.

Beresheet Gears up for Lunar Rendezvous

The Israeli spacecraft is set to enter lunar orbit on 4 April at 17:57 UTC (13:57 EDT).

Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Lesser-Known Luminaries

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares some of his latest images highlighting some hidden gems.

OSIRIS-REx sees Bennu spewing stuff into space

The asteroid's rotation rate is also increasing, and scientists continue refining the plan to collect a regolith sample next year.

The March Equinox Issue of The Planetary Report Is Out!

I’m very pleased to announce the publication of the March Equinox issue of The Planetary Report: “Inside the Ice Giants.” The print issue shipped to members yesterday!

A GREAT QUEST is underway to discover Earthsize worlds in their stars’ habitable zones. Along the way, astronomers have been surprised to learn that the most typical size of planet in our galaxy is one with no counterpart in our own solar system.

The Realm of the Ice Giants

Imagine 2 icy worlds far from the Sun. Their serene, blue atmospheres. Huge, ominous-looking storms. Tantalizing glimpses of moons with exotic, icy terrains. Delicate sets of encircling rings.

Where We Are on 1 April 2019

Emily Lakdawalla takes us on a tour of the spacecraft currently exploring from within our solar system. All planets and spacecraft locations are shown at their location for April 1st, 2019.

A Kepler Orrery

As of mission end on 30 October 2018, Kepler had detected 1,815 planets or planet candidates in multi-planet systems. All 726 such systems are drawn here.

Northern summer global view of Mars from Mars Orbiter Mission

Amidst Cuts to NASA, Mars Sample Return May Finally Happen

The President's Budget Request for NASA in 2020 would start a Mars Sample Return mission and ramp up efforts to send humans to the Moon. But it would still kick off the first year of a new decade with a half-billion dollar cut to the space agency.