It’s all coming together

Scientists are studying the earliest stages of planetary formation. In a microgravity experiment on a suborbital flight, researchers at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany studied how tiny charged particles came together in clumps, like the one pictured. This behavior could be similar to how dust and rock in a protoplanetary disk might come together to form planetesimals. Image credit: University of Duisburg-Essen.

The Euclid Space Telescope team released its first deep fields. The European Space Agency’s Euclid mission has already observed 26 million galaxies up to 10.5 billion light-years away. The mission team recently released previews of three highly detailed deep field images, showing hundreds of thousands of galaxies.

An international team is developing nano-solar sails. Researchers at the Delft University of Technology and Brown University are working on a version of a solar sail that uses nanotechnology materials and production methods to try to develop low-mass, optically efficient small solar sails.

NASA is terminating $420 million in contracts. The agency confirmed on March 24 that it has identified and phased out contracts that were redundant or misaligned with the new administration’s core priorities. Details about what exactly is being cut are still unclear.

Dark energy might be getting weaker. Scientists using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument have found hints that the dark energy that fuels the expansion of the Universe may be weakening. Watch our short video explaining the implications of this observation.

Our 2025 Day of Action was a great success. Over 100 Planetary Society members from across the country came together this Monday in Washington, D.C., to meet with their representatives in Congress and speak to them about the importance of investing in space science and exploration amid rumors of drastic cuts. Hundreds of space advocates at home also took action in support of our members in D.C. Image credit: Tushar Dayal for The Planetary Society.

Hear some of the Apollo program’s untold stories. In this week’s Planetary Radio, we explore the history of Black NASA engineers who helped make the Apollo Moon landings possible. Hear about how their technical brilliance shaped the space program, why their stories were left out of the history books, and how telling them now can help create a more equitable space community for the future.

The Cosmic Shores Gala is coming up. Will you join us? Celebrate The Planetary Society’s 45th anniversary at our Cosmic Shores Gala, taking place on April 5 aboard the HMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. Celebrate space with host Robert Picardo, CEO Bill Nye, special guests, and fellow space enthusiasts. Tickets are now available at a reduced rate, so get yours today!