Articles

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

Chang'e 4 relay satellite, Queqiao: A bridge between Earth and the mysterious lunar farside

China's fourth lunar mission, Chang’e 4, is expected to begin on May 21 with the launch of a Long March 4C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwest of China. The launch will carry a spacecraft named Queqiao, which will serve as a communication relay satellite between Earth and the lunar farside.

A brief history of Resource Prospector, NASA's cancelled lunar mission

The mission survived NASA's Journey to Mars era, only to be axed once short-term goals shifted back to the Moon.

#LPSC2018: What the Moon's craters tell us about Earth's past climate

You might be surprised to learn that studying craters on the Moon can tell us about ancient Earth.

ISS partners consider ambitious lunar sample return mission

The plan involves NASA's proposed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, and a return to Earth via the Orion spacecraft.

Sample storage and examination laboratory for Genesis samples

#LPSC2018: Fungi in the lab, hot springs frozen cold, and exploding lakes

The first astrobiology session at last week's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference featured talks on a huge variety of interesting topics, and was one of my favorite sessions at the meeting.

#LPSC2018: An Apollo 17 session with moonwalker Jack Schmitt

The only geoscientist to walk on the Moon attended a conference session presenting results from the rocks he collected.

Moon Monday: Looking back at the Moon from Apollo 17

For this Moon Monday, Emily digs up a classic from the end of the Apollo program.

Throwback Thursday Funpost! A spacewalk in deep space

Only three humans have ever been on a spacewalk in the void between the Earth and Moon.

Illustration of SES-14, the satellite that hosts NASA's GOLD instrument

Go for GOLD, SES-14!

While we can measure properties of these upper layers using ground-based instruments, satellite-borne remote sensing instruments can give us a more frequent, global, and often higher spatial resolution perspective. And that is precisely what NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission will deliver.

Simulating Mars in the Middle East

The Austrian Space Forum is leading a four-week Mars mission in Oman's Dhofar Desert.

International meetings: Moon initiatives

Interest is rising globally in expanded lunar science, resource exploration and eventually permanent human settlement. Also, the potential for commercial lunar enterprises is being seriously examined.

What changed with space directive #1?

President Trump signed Space Directive #1, formally implementing as policy what Vice President Pence had announced at the first meeting of the National Space Council in October: that NASA will focus its human spaceflight efforts on a return to the Moon, and then onto Mars. What really changed?