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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Go Atlas, go Centaur, go InSight!
NASA’s next Mars mission launched successfully from Vandenberg Air Force Base today!
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Studies Mystery Rock, Mission Officials Seek 2019 Extension
Opportunity spent April further exploring the area about halfway down Perseverance Valley, checking out unusual, vesicular or pitted rocks the likes of which she has never seen, while officials prepared the mission’s bid to keep the robot field geologist roving through 2019.
A brief history of Resource Prospector, NASA's cancelled lunar mission
The mission survived NASA's Journey to Mars era, only to be axed once short-term goals shifted back to the Moon.
A Comet or Titan: The Next New Frontiers Mission
Both would do compelling science in the mid-2030s. Otherwise the two missions could not be more different.
MarCO: CubeSats to Mars!
MarCO or Mars Cube One is an experimental mission that is sending two tiny spacecraft along with InSight to Mars. If successful, they will relay real-time telemetry from InSight to Earth during the landing.
An update on the potential habitability of TRAPPIST-1
One year ago, Franck Marchis wrote an article about the remarkable discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system. Here's an update.
Space Policy & Advocacy Program Quarterly Report - April 2018
The Planetary Society's Space Policy and Advocacy team publishes quarterly reports on their activities, actions, priorities, and goals in service of their efforts to promote space science and exploration in Washington, D.C.
‘SuperCam’ Update: Multi-purpose Instrument Coming Together for 2020 Launch to Mars
Excitement is building within the SuperCam team as the instrument enters the final stages of assembly and testing toward an anticipated launch aboard NASA’s Mars 2020 rover.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update Special Report: Perseverance Science So Far, New View of Endeavour at LPSC 2018
For the 15th year in a row, Opportunity drove into the spotlight during an afternoon session at the 49th Lunar & Planetary Science Conference.
Funpost! I do solemnly swear
A far-from-comprehensive look at the oath of office.
Introducing Space Advocacy 101
Space Advocacy 101 is a new online course to help space fans become empowered space advocates.
Pew pew! Lasers will help determine where LightSail 2 is
The International Laser Ranging Service, or ILRS, will lend its services to the LightSail 2 mission.
What kind of asteroid is Ryugu?
What do we already know about Ryugu, and why is it so hard to know what it looks like? Hayabusa2 Mission Manger Makoto Yoshikawa
Moon Monday: Prometheus
Happy Monday! Here's a picture of Prometheus. You may think it's a picture of Saturn. Look hard, toward the bottom, and you'll see Prometheus, doing its part to keep the F ring in line.
OSIRIS-REx shows us space isn't entirely empty
What a cool photo of OSIRIS-REx's sample return capsule! But wait, what's that black dot near the top?
The Opportunity selfie: 5000 Sols in the making
A personal story recounts how a NASA team used a microscopic imager to take a selfie of the Opportunity rover.
Funpost! Can you name a space vehicle for each letter of the alphabet?
There are NASA choices for all letters except Y and Z; for those two, you'll need to go international.
Recap: Breakthrough Discuss 2018
If you had a spaceship and could take it anywhere in the solar system to search for life, where would you go?
Curiosity Update, sols 1972-2026: Completing the Vera Rubin Ridge Walkabout
The Curiosity team has completed its initial survey of the top of Vera Rubin Ridge, and is ready to make another attempt at drilling after the rock at Lake Orcadie proved to be too hard.
Space grade electronics: How NASA’s Juno survives near Jupiter
Take a look at how electronics of spacecraft are built to survive the harshness of space environments.