Articles

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

Storms and showers

Mars has storms of dust, while Saturn pours down ammonia rain. Here on Earth, we passed through a debris tail to get a special kind of shower.

Hasta la vista, baby

Terminators abound this week in space, and we’ll be back to Mars if NASA gets the budget it needs.

That’s a mare

An unusual lunar feature, Saturn’s shining rings, and Mars’ complex gullies.

The U.S. Senate threatens to cancel Mars Sample Return

The House has yet to weigh in. And much can still happen before this threat is realized.

Speedy spacecraft and pretty pics

Take a look at some of our favorite recent space images and learn about an express mission to Mars.

The Space Advocate Newsletter, July 2023

What's going on with Mars Sample Return?

Searching the skies to keep us all alive

Astronomers around the world are working to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts, with the help of Planetary Society members and donors.

What’s going on with Mars Sample Return?

NASA's biggest science project is undergoing an unprecedented second independent review amidst growing cost estimates and daunting technical and managerial challenges.

Day and night, it’s all about starlight

This week in space: Mars days almost match up with ours, and light and molecules are created by distant stars.

Moonshadow, Moonshadow

The Moon casts shadows on itself and on Earth, environmental concerns overshadow a test launch’s success, and exoplanets are awesome (beyond a shadow of a doubt).

Have a nice flight!

Flying on Titan is easy, but not as easy as flying on Deimos. Plus, Juice takes off and Ingenuity captures a view from the air.

Want more space? Speak up!

Detailed Mars maps, insights into the Venusian surface, and views of Uranian rings all have one thing in common: they don’t happen without public support for space.

A mission to pull back the shroud

VERITAS would peer through Venus’ clouds to study its surface like never before, but it needs your help.

What the search for aliens can learn from life on Earth

When searching for extraterrestrial life, we have to base our hunt on what we know about life on our own planet. This may seem limiting, but there's a lot we can learn from the astonishingly diverse lifeforms we have here on Earth.