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

Sharing an eclipse with kids

Here's a simple and safe way to observe solar eclipses that's appropriate for young children, with no eclipse glasses or other special equipment needed.

Sample Return Roundup

It's a banner year for sample return missions. In 2020, China, Japan, and the United States are all scheduled to have sample return missions in flight, seeking to retrieve material from near-Earth asteroids, the Moon, and eventually Mars.

Star Trek: Picard Gets the Martian Landscape Right

The visual effects for the new television series Star Trek: Picard show a wonderfully realistic Mars in panoramic views that obviously rely upon NASA and ESA imagery. This article is spoiler-free except for the disclosure of an important event depicted in the opening moments of the show.

Where We Are on 1 October 2019

We lost and gained spacecraft at the Moon last quarter. India’s Chandrayaan-2 left Earth orbit for the Moon on 13 August, and its Vikram lander aims at a 7 September touchdown. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter just celebrated its tenth launch anniversary. China’s smallsat Longjiang-2 crashed on 31 July, ending its successful mission.

ESA to Launch Comet Interceptor Mission in 2028

With Comet Interceptor, ESA plans to meet a comet on its first trip into the inner solar system. The mission was selected yesterday after a fast-track proposal process and will be developed on a rapid (for ESA) timeline, with a launch planned for 2028.

Where We Are on 1 July 2019

The last quarter has seen few changes in the roster of planetary exploration spacecraft. SpaceIL’s lunar lander Beresheet is now on the lunar surface. Its descent on 11 April seemed to go nearly perfectly. Unfortunately, a cascade of events shortly before its planned landing caused it to hit the ground too fast, and it did not survive.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Images Beresheet Impact Site

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has successfully imaged the impact site of the Beresheet lander, which made a really good run at performing the first privately funded Moon landing on 11 April, but crashed after the failure of its main engine.

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