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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Capturing magic
A photographer’s guide to auroras.
Needles in the haystack
How advanced amateurs defend Earth from asteroids.
The Fermi Paradox: Where are all the aliens?
The conditions for intelligent life to arise don't seem uncommon in the Cosmos. So where is everybody?
A possible sign of life on K2-18b? Here’s what it means — and why it's just the beginning
If dimethyl-sulfide truly exists on the planet K2-18 b, it could be a huge milestone in the search for life.
Are UFOs or UAPs real?
Something weird is happening — something that, even as an astronomer, I once struggled to explain.
EELS and the future of exploration
How artificial intelligence could traverse other worlds
Exploration on autopilot
The future of AI in space.
Computing in space exploration history
Before artificial intelligence, there was human ingenuity.
How space explorers could grow habitats from fungus
A NASA-funded project is exploring the possibility of using mycelium — the root-like structure in fungi — to grow habitats on the Moon or Mars.
Should you be worried about Asteroid 2024 YR4?
Experts weigh in about the recently discovered near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 that has about a 1% chance of impacting Earth on Dec. 22, 2032.
The Planetary Society’s role in real space missions
Since 1980, The Planetary Society has been active in over 20 space exploration missions, from leading public outreach efforts to funding the development of instruments.
Tech funded by Planetary Society launches to the Moon next month
A spacecraft trying to land on the Moon will carry PlanetVac, the lunar dustbuster that could change how we explore other worlds.
Mars’ enduring role in the search for life
New discoveries underscore why we must keep exploring the red planet.
The Hera launch: What to expect
The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch a mission to study the aftermath of DART's impact on the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos.
Could Europa Clipper find life?
For a mission that doesn’t aim to find alien life, Europa Clipper may come surprisingly close.
Earthlings as aliens
Looking at life on Earth from another perspective.
Connecting ancient life to other worlds
Looking to the past to guide the search for life.
Extraterrestrial artifacts
Could the Solar System host traces of other intelligent life?
The Tianlin Space Telescope
China is in the early stages of planning a huge space observatory to help answer the matter of whether we are alone in the galaxy.
Why the “habitable zone” doesn’t always mean habitable
The habitable zone is a useful concept in astrobiology, but it can sometimes paint an over-simplified picture of planetary habitability.