Articles

Jason Davis

NASA's efforts to capture a near-Earth asteroid and tow it back to lunar orbit will have to wait a little bit longer for a final mission concept.

Jason Davis

Early next year, SpaceX will attempt what no agency or company has done before: land a used rocket stage on a floating ocean platform.

Nicholas Heavens

With the announcement of Curiosity's detection of methane on Mars, Nicholas Heavens gives us a guide to the history of methane detection on Mars, a discussion of its scientific significance, and a few things to consider when hearing about and asking about the detection.

Emily Lakdawalla

In San Francisco, in an annual tradition, more than 20,000 geologists are descending on the Moscone Center. I'll be attending #AGU14 this week, but you can also watch press briefings and many of the sessions online.

Casey Dreier

Senate passes the CRomnibus spending bill with an $18.01 billion NASA budget, which includes an increase to planetary science and Europa. The legislation now moves on to the President for his signature.

Casey Dreier

By a narrow vote, the House of Representatives passed the 2015 'CRomnibus' spending bill, which includes an increase to NASA and its Planetary Science Division. It now moves on to the Senate.

Mattias Malmer

Mattias Malmer shares his latest shape model of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, created using data from the Rosetta spacecraft.

Kate Howells

The Planetary Society’s Global Volunteer Network has been busy these past few months!

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares his haunting images of three different types of nebulae.

Jason Davis

The Planetary Society's LightSail spacecraft successfully completed testing to prepare it for a possible 2015 test flight.

Emily Lakdawalla

NASA's next Mars lander is becoming real, now under construction at Lockheed Martin.

Mat Kaplan

Mat Kaplan reviews a comprehensive new collection of historic and modern space art from author and superb space artist Ron Miller.

Dante Lauretta

The YORP effect is a phenomenon that affects the rotation rate and pole orientation of an asteroid. YORP is an acronym that combines four scientist’s names: Yarkovsky, O’Keefe, Radzievskii, and Paddack.

Emily Lakdawalla

Venus Express is still alive and talking to Earth, but may fall into Venus' atmosphere in January.

Casey Dreier

The U.S. budget cycle for fiscal year 2015 is coming to an end. Should Congress pass the so-called CRomnibus bill as-is, NASA would see its highest funding level since 2011 and a great increase to its Planetary Science Division.

Björn Jónsson

Amateur image processor Björn Jónsson brings us some new views of Uranus from reprocessed Voyager 2 data.

Emily Lakdawalla

China is moving forward with plans to launch an orbiter and rover to Mars in the 2020 launch opportunity. The Mars program also includes plans for sample return in 2030.

Jason Davis

NASA's Orion spacecraft is back on dry land following its offloading from the USS Anchorage late Monday night. Here are some selected photographs by Kevin Baird.

Bill Dunford

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter just keeps delivering remarkable scenes from the Red Planet.

Jason Callahan

Jason Callahan takes a detailed look at the effects of Curiosity's cost overruns on NASA's budget.