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

Planetary accessorizing

Planets are beautiful and fascinating enough on their own, but there’s no denying that moons and rings add a little something special.

Rocky worlds rock

This week we're all about the rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

How to follow BepiColombo's launch

I’m thrilled to be anticipating the beginning of a new mission to Mercury. Here's a timeline for BepiColombo's planned launch on 20 October (19 October in the U.S.).

Voyage to Mercury

Elsa Montagnon details the challenges of delivering BepiColombo’s two spacecraft from Earth to Mercury.

What's Up in Solar System Exploration in 2018

Three launches to the Moon and one each to Mercury and Mars; two arrivals at near-Earth asteroids; and an approach to an encounter with a distant Kuiper belt object are highlights we anticipate in 2018.

LPSC 2015: MESSENGER's low-altitude campaign at Mercury

At last week's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, the MESSENGER team held a press briefing to share results from the recent few months of incredibly low-altitude flight over Mercury's surface. The mission will last only about five weeks more.

What are Mercury's hollows?

I've been fascinated by Mercury's hollows ever since MESSENGER discovered them. Two recent papers look at where they are found to try to figure out how they form.

BepiColombo's launch date has slipped to August 2015

ESA announced this morning that the launch of their BepiColombo mission, a cooperative effort with JAXA, has been delayed from its originally planned July 2014 to the backup launch window in August 2015.