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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
How China's lunar relay satellite arrived in its final orbit
It took 24 days for Queiqiao to reach an Earth-Moon L2 halo orbit.
Dawn Journal: Spiralling Down
Propelled by the perfect combination of xenon ions, hydrazine rocket propellant and adrenaline, Dawn is on the verge of its most ambitious exploits yet.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update Special Report: Opportunity Pummeled by Massive Dust Storm, Hunkers Down to Sleep
Entrenched in the west rim of Endeavour Crater, veteran robot field geologist Opportunity is hunkered down in Perseverance Valley in a kind of hibernation mode.
Favorite Astro Plots: The Pyroxene Quadrilateral
Petrology is a field of science in which scientists study the compositions of rocks and minerals and interpret their geologic history. A common graph petrologists use is the “pyroxene quadrilateral.” These graphs, like photos of space, can reveal an understanding of the remotest parts of the solar system.
Hayabusa2: Ryugu takes shape
Hayabusa2 is now less than 1000 kilometers away from Ryugu, and the tiny asteroid is beginning to betray its shape.
Chinese satellite snags new views of Earth from lunar orbit
See the world through the eyes of Longjiang-2.
Get ready for OSIRIS-REx at Bennu! ...but be patient.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx will get the first sight of its target Bennu in August and go into orbit in December.
Meet MMX, Japan's sample return mission to Phobos
NASA is providing an instrument for the mission, which will try to uncover the origins of Phobos and Deimos.
Reaching Higher for Space
We humans have always looked to the night sky and pondered our place in the cosmos.
Hayabusa2's Approach phase has begun with a new photo of Ryugu!
On June 3, Hayabusa2 ended use of its ion engines, for now, and is coasting the remaining distance toward Ryugu. It's using an optical navigation camera to image the asteroid's position against a field of background stars to help it navigate.
A Planetary Vacuum Successfully Takes a Rocket Ride
Rocket science met planetary science in the California desert when PlanetVac, a new planetary surface sampling technique, was successfully tested on a Xodiac rocket.
NASA is beloved; the Moon, not so much
A new poll shows broad support for space exploration in the United States. But sending astronauts to the Moon ranks as the lowest priority among the public.
Big news from the magnetosphere
At five years and counting, the Van Allen Probes mission continues to reshape our thinking about how Earth’s radiation belts flex and reconfigure under the influence of solar storms.
A WIYN-win partnership
NASA and the National Science Foundation are teaming up to observe exoplanets discovered by Kepler and TESS.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Makes Tracks on Magical Mystery Tour of Different Rocks
Opportunity continued exploring the south trough of Perseverance in May, still looking for evidence that explains just how this one-of-a-kind valley meandering through Endeavour Crater’s rim formed.
So you need questions answered about space
A post for kids whose teachers have told them to send emails to scientists asking questions.
Mars' growth stunted!
Mars is a weirdo. (Well, as far as planets go).
Visiting northern Thailand? Be a Stopover Astronomer guest at Thailand’s national astronomy institute
If you are space professional traveling to Thailand, the country's national space science research institute has an opportunity for you!
Funpost! Space beer face-off
Please Funpost! responsibly.
How long is a day on Saturn?
One of the Cassini mission's goals was to figure out how long a day on Saturn is. We still don't know. A new paper reports a measurement of the rotation period of Saturn that is different from past measurements.