Articles

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

The Making of Life

Michael L. Wong asks how our understanding of the origin of life on Earth informs our search for it elsewhere.

Flying By Home

Vicky Hamilton explores how OSIRIS-REx used its Earth flyby to test instruments on the way to asteroid Bennu.

This Thanksgiving, avoid the politics and talk space instead

If you're expecting to gather with extended family on Thanksgiving, avoid the politics. Here are some conversation starters to use at the dinner table that everyone can engage in.

NASA's Orion spacecraft makes progress, but are the agency's lunar plans on track?

Orion's service module arrived in Florida, but some space industry experts question whether NASA's human spaceflight plans are realistic.

Space station crew safe after failed launch

About two minutes after liftoff, the Soyuz vehicle carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin to orbit failed.

NASA Then & Now

A collection of before and after slider images showing how views of planets in our solar system have changed over the years since NASA was created.

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is getting a signal boost

It's all thanks to renewed interest from NASA and a private effort to scan the skies using an array of 64 radio telescopes.

Asteroids have been hitting the Earth for billions of years. In 2022, we hit back.

DART is a test of the kinetic impactor technique, a potential method to deflect an asteroid on course to impact the Earth.

On February 6, 2018, I found myself shoulder to shoulder with two of my heroes: Bill Nye on the left, Buzz Aldrin on the right. Our eyes were fixed on the first vertical Falcon Heavy rocket. Figuring the world's most powerful rocket might send me flying backwards once the countdown hit zero, I gripped the railing so tightly I started to lose the feeling in my fingertips.

Goodbye, Delta II rocket

This Saturday, the final Delta II rocket will launch NASA's ICESat-2 spacecraft into orbit.

Lunar Gateway artist's concept (Feb. 2019)

Orion's third flight will haul two pieces of a space station to lunar orbit

NASA is planning for a 30-day mission to lunar orbit in 2024.

How India built NavIC, the country's own GPS network

The country's satellite navigation system faced a long and difficult road, but it's finally operational.

NEA Scout unfurls solar sail for full-scale test

The next time its solar sail is deployed, NEA Scout will be out near the Moon.

Let's check in on The Planetary Society's asteroid hunters

The Shoemaker NEO Grant program funds advanced amateur astronomers who help determine if nearby asteroids will hit Earth. Here are some collected reports from our asteroid hunters.

Artist's concept of near-Earth asteroids

Will an asteroid hit Earth? Your questions answered.

The Planetary Society presents a list of Frequent Asteroid Questions (FAQs).

New report explores threat from near-Earth asteroids

How dangerous are near-Earth asteroids, and what will we do if we find one headed toward Earth?

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.