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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
LightSail 2 updates: Launch date slips, environmental test complete, new video released
LightSail 2's ride to space won't happen until at least November 30, as SpaceX works through a list of other payloads in line to fly first.
NASA names crews and dates for first U.S. commercial missions
Four NASA astronauts and one commercial employee are expected to launch aboard SpaceX and Boeing-operated vehicles in 2019.
LightSail 2 team completes key mission review and dress rehearsal
The LightSail 2 team gathered in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for a Mission Readiness Review (MRR) and Operational Readiness Test (ORT).
Planetary Society asteroid hunters help find rare type of double asteroid
A global team of astronomers has found a rare type of asteroid, where two equal-mass objects circle each other in a never-ending dance as they hurtle through the solar system.
NEA Scout unfurls solar sail for full-scale test
The next time its solar sail is deployed, NEA Scout will be out near the Moon.
New goodies from asteroid Ryugu!
Two new global views of Ryugu from Hayabusa2, plus a 3-D animation.
What's the benefit of sample return?
With Hayabusa2 at Ryugu and OSIRIS-REx closing on Bennu, it's the summer of sample return. Why do scientists go to so much trouble for a piece of a another world?
Planetary Defense in the Moroccan Mountains
A little-known observatory is s helping usher an Arab astronomy renaissance.
Let's check in on The Planetary Society's asteroid hunters
The Shoemaker NEO Grant program funds advanced amateur astronomers who help determine if nearby asteroids will hit Earth. Here are some collected reports from our asteroid hunters.
New report explores threat from near-Earth asteroids
How dangerous are near-Earth asteroids, and what will we do if we find one headed toward Earth?
Rotatin' Ryugu!
Hayabusa2 continues to approach asteroid Ryugu, revealing the 900-meter-wide world in all its glory.
Chinese satellite snags new views of Earth from lunar orbit
See the world through the eyes of Longjiang-2.
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.
A WIYN-win partnership
NASA and the National Science Foundation are teaming up to observe exoplanets discovered by Kepler and TESS.
Funpost! Space beer face-off
Please Funpost! responsibly.
Cygnus cargo craft will test ability to boost and deorbit the International Space Station
NASA and Orbital ATK are planning a one-minute test burn before Cygnus leaves the station.
Funpost! Audio diaries from simulated Mars
The Habitat is a new podcast about a year-long HI-SEAS mission in Hawaii.
The curious case of the Apollo 4 Earth images
Revisiting images of Earth taken from the uncrewed Apollo 4 command module in 1967.
Funpost! We both began to giggle like school children
NASA astronaut Scott Tingle describes his first rocket launch.
Is NASA painting itself into a corner with its ISS transition plans?
By 2025, NASA wants to create a new humans-in-LEO market, and then become the non-primary customer for that new market.