Explore Worlds
Find Life
Defend Earth
All
All
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
In Pictures: Expedition 42 Crew Launches to Station
Three more humans are in space today following the launch of Soyuz TMA-15M from the chilly steppes of Kazakhstan.
Close to the end for Venus Express
Venus Express is nearly out of fuel. Any day could be the last of its long mission to Venus.
Lunar Polar Volatile Puzzle
Deepak Dhingra gives an exciting update from the recent Lunar Exploration and Analysis Group (LEAG) meeting at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (JHU-APL) in Baltimore.
Quick update about our website
The last two weeks have been extraordinary for The Planetary Society. As amazing as this increased traffic is, it has brought to light some issues with our website including latency and missing content that we are still working on fixing.
A Mission to Europa Just Got a Whole Lot More Likely
Rep. John Culberson, an outspoken supporter of Europa exploration, will assume leadership of an influential congressional committee that funds NASA.
How NASA Plans to Land Humans on Mars
On the surface, NASA's humans to Mars plans seem vague and disjointed. But that's because the agency is playing the long game. Right now, it may be the only game they can play.
Remember Comet Siding Spring? Mars Orbiter Mission got photos, too
A set of photos released by Mars Orbiter Mission last week completes the set of Mars spacecraft observations of the comet. Now we wait for science results!
Curiosity update, sols 782-813: Walking the outcrop at Pahrump Hills
At Pahrump Hills, Curiosity is becoming the field geologist she was intended to be.
Rosetta imaged Philae during its descent -- and after its bounce
This morning ESA released a set of images of the Philae lander taken by the Rosetta orbiter during -- and after -- the lander's first touchdown. The images contain evidence for the spot Philae first touched the comet, and a crucial photo of Philae's position several minutes into its first long bounce.
Now Philae down to sleep
My last post on the drama in Darmstadt, where ground controllers believe Philae may have fell asleep for good.
Philae update: My last day in Darmstadt, possibly Philae's last day of operations
Emily Lakdawalla gives a status report on Philae from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt.
With New Horizons Ready to Wake Up, Scientists Prepare for Pluto Encounter
When New Horizons wakes up for the final time on Dec. 6, scientists will spend six weeks preparing for the start of the spacecraft's Pluto encounter.
Want Funding? Then Be a National Priority
On Monday, Jason Callahan published an article in The Space Review discussing the importance of aligning the goals of federally funded scientific communities with national priorities. This post highlights some of the main points of the article and suggests a possible role for The Planetary Society.
Brief Philae "Morning After" update: First ÇIVA panorama from the surface
I'm just getting up to speed on the news from overnight, which is mostly good: Philae remained in contact with the orbiter (which means the CONSERT radar sounding experiment was working), and it's sitting stably on the surface, although it's not anchored in any way. And they released the first ÇIVA image from the ground!
Philae status, a day later
The Philae team scrambled all morning to comprehend the initially confusing status of the lander, and the picture is much clearer today. Speaking of which, there are lots more pictures!
LightSail Gets Burn Wire Redesign for Round 2 of Vibration Tests
The Planetary Society's LightSail-A spacecraft is less than three weeks away from an expected go/no-go decision on whether the CubeSat will be launched into space for a shakedown cruise next year.
Philae update: Photo documentation of Philae's separation!
Here it is. We knew hours ago that Philae separation happened, but there's nothing like seeing a photo, seeing Philae's mothership receding into the distance.
PHILAE HAS LANDED! [UPDATED]
The landing happened on time just after 16:02 UT today! Philae mission manager Stephan Ulamec said:
Report from Darmstadt: Philae status and early Rosetta results from DPS
I'm reporting live from the press room at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. There's little news on Philae yet except that its status is good. Meanwhile, Rosetta scientists presented their first early comet results at the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Tucson, Arizona, which I watched from afar using Twitter.