Articles

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

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.

How to keep up with Hayabusa2

Hayabusa2 is approaching asteroid Ryugu! Here's how to stay on top of mission news and the mission's planned schedule for 2018.

Dawn Journal: Getting Elliptical

For the first time in almost a year, the Dawn mission control room at JPL is aglow with blue.

Philae science results: Comet 67P is crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside

What is the surface of a comet like? That's one of the main questions that motivated Philae's mission to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. We now know the comet has a rigid crust about 10 to 50 centimeters thick, below which the comet is much more fluffy.

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.

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

The OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule imaged by Stowcam on March 2, 2017

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?

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.

Dawn Journal: The Final Countdown

The Dawn mission has only one revolution to go before the spacecraft begins the final campaign of its long and rewarding deep-space adventure.

Sample storage and examination laboratory for Genesis samples

#LPSC2018: Fungi in the lab, hot springs frozen cold, and exploding lakes

The first astrobiology session at last week's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference featured talks on a huge variety of interesting topics, and was one of my favorite sessions at the meeting.

First light on Ryugu for Hayabusa2 (annotated)

Hayabusa2 has detected Ryugu!

In a milestone for the mission, JAXA's Hayabusa2 sample return spacecraft has sighted its destination, asteroid Ryugu.

Ten times the solar system reminded us sample collection is hard

Some of the biggest discoveries we make in planetary science rely on the seemingly simple act of picking up and analyzing pieces of other worlds. When things go awry, scientists and engineers can sometimes squeeze amazing science out of a tough situation.