Who knew there were so many more moons?

Space Snapshot

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched this week. In this still from the launch livestream, you see the telescope drifting away after separating from the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that carried it into space. Roman is now on its way to Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2, about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) away, where it will begin its mission to study dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets. Image credit: NASA/SpaceX.

Fact Worth Sharing

Roman’s mission focuses on targets beyond our Solar System, but it stands to make some impressive local discoveries as well. Roman is expected to discover approximately 1,000 previously unknown moons of Jupiter, 200 moons of Saturn, 100 moons of Uranus, and 5 moons of Neptune.

Space Advocacy Update

NASA’s New Horizons mission may shut down science instruments due to a lack of funding. New Horizons, which brought us the first close-up images of Pluto, is currently 66 times farther from the Sun than Earth and in good health, but a lack of funding may force the mission team to shut down two of its science instruments prematurely. You can sign a petition to urge NASA to provide the funding needed to keep this spacecraft operating.

Mission Briefings

Curiosity has officially gained a kilometer (0.6 miles) of elevation on Mars. The NASA rover has been exploring the red planet since 2012, and has been climbing the 5-kilometer-tall (3-mile) Mount Sharp for the last two years. Pictured: Curiosity’s view of a valley on the side of Mount Sharp. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

NASA’s Pandora mission has begun science operations. This small space telescope is designed to observe stars and their planets in visible and infrared light, aiming to better understand exoplanet atmospheres.

ESA’s Juice mission will study a tiny Jovian moon up close. The mission to study Jupiter’s icy moons will include a flyby of Kallichore, a small, dark, irregular moon with a retrograde orbit around the giant planet. Planning for the 2031 flyby has involved observations using several space- and ground-based telescopes, including Hubble.

NASA has selected Blue Origin to provide its Mars Telecommunications Network. This network will provide reliable, high-bandwidth communications and navigation services essential to current and future Mars missions. Blue Origin won a $700-million-dollar contract to deliver an orbiter to NASA by the end of 2028.

From The Planetary Society

Make your own Mars-like mountain climb. The Planetary Society is a proud partner of the travel company Planetary Experience. Their Oct. 16-18 trip takes travelers on an expertly-guided tour of New Mexico's planetary analog sites and real astronaut training grounds. Learn more and sign up today. Pictured: A snapshot from a past New Mexico planetary analog trip. Image credit: Planetary Experience.

Get ready for World Space Week. Dennis Stone from the World Space Week Association joins this week’s Planetary Radio to talk about the world's largest annual space celebration and how to get involved this October.

You could power the next great discovery. Could a frozen, salty lake in British Columbia help us find life on other worlds? Dr. Jacob Buffo and his team think so. Building on their earlier STEP Grant-funded research into hypersaline lakes that mirror past conditions on Mars, they're now developing techniques to better study these environments and planning expeditions to test those techniques. These efforts could help future spacecraft more efficiently spot the most promising places to look for signs of past life. Your support will help fund this next phase. Make your gift today!

What's Up

In the evening skies this week, look for stunningly bright Venus in the west, with Mercury lower to the horizon. Yellowish Saturn rises in the east after sunset and crosses the sky over the course of the night. In the pre-dawn, very bright, white Jupiter dominates the eastern sky, with reddish Mars higher up. Learn more about what to look for in our guide to September’s night skies.

Join now and save space missions

If you are not one already, become a member TODAY and help shape the future of space science and exploration by fueling mission-critical advocacy efforts. Here’s just one example: The Planetary Society led efforts in Washington to Save NASA Science in 2026. Thanks to the support of our members, we were able to prevent an extinction-level budget cut to planetary exploration this year. This means more missions, more science, and exploration in our Solar System.

Will you join us and protect the future of exploration?

Wow of the Week

This perfectly timed photo from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket passing in front of the rising Sun. Atmospheric distortion creates a rippled effect. Image credit: NASA/John Kraus.

Send us your artwork!

We love to feature space artwork in the Downlink. If you create any kind of space-related art, we invite you to send it to us by replying to any Downlink email or writing to [email protected]. Please let us know in your email if you’re a Planetary Society member!