Articles

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

Spectacularly crepuscular!

Curiosity captures crepuscular rays on Mars, a new member community launches, and solar sailing takes exploration into the future.

Never let a rock sneak up on you

Finding asteroids before they hit Earth not only protects us from harm, it can also yield beautiful photos.

Red hot space

This week’s roundup of space news and exploration inspiration will leave you seeing red (in the best way possible).

What does a bear have in common with a megatsunami?

An old image of Mars drives scientific questions today, moons and mini asteroids fuel fascination, and an unexpected ursine figure shows itself.

By Jove! (Literally)

Jupiter’s moons have always been exciting to explore, and a new era of Jovian moon research is about to begin.

Tianwen-2: China’s Near-Earth asteroid and comet double-header

China is gearing up for an ambitious combined mission to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid, deliver the material to Earth, and then head off back into deep space to study a comet.

A long night, and “so long!” to InSight

Celebrate the December solstice, be thankful you’re not on Triton, and say goodbye to the InSight Mars lander.

Much has passed in decades past

With anniversaries come reflections, and there’s a lot to look back on in the history of space.

Gifts from above

The Cosmos has so many gifts to give us, from awe-inspiring images to fascinating discoveries. We’ve got our own set of gifts to recommend too.

Launching and descending

Artemis I is on its way to the Moon, Planetary Academy is here to inspire your kids, and LightSail 2 has come down.

Two pale blue dots

Reflecting on Carl Sagan’s influence on this pale blue dot we call Earth.

VOICE: Will this Chinese candidate mission to Venus fly?

Inside the Venus Volcano Imaging and Climate Explorer (VOICE) proposal, which appears to be gaining momentum.

New wonders to behold

New stars are being born, new missions are being conceived, and new discoveries are being made all the time.

The live space feeds you should be following right now

Here are some livestreams to save so you can watch rocket launch feeds, space station broadcasts off-Earth, and other space-related activities in real-time.

Brighten up your day

JWST captures more astonishing images and insights, and DART gets ready for impact.

Tianwen-3: China’s Mars sample return mission

China's Tianwen-3 aims to be the first to collect samples from Mars and deliver them to Earth, potentially landing back home two years ahead of the NASA and the European Space Agency MSR project