Articles

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

Your cosmic community

There’s no limit to what a community of like-minded space enthusiasts, advocates and even famous luminaries can achieve when we all work together.

The Space Advocate Newsletter, May 2022

How Russia's invasion of Ukraine is changing space.

Artist concept of giant asteroid impacting Earth

When to worry about an asteroid striking Earth

The chances of large impacts from asteroids and near-Earth objects capable of causing widespread damage on Earth are small — but they aren’t zero.

That’s so metal

Gear up for a mission to a metallic world and catch up on the latest in space news.

Surreal solar sights

New ways of looking at the star that graces our skies, plus this week’s space news.

Our planet’s day in the sun

Celebrate Earth Day by appreciating some of the unique and quirky characteristics of our home world.

Are we trashing space?

Humans have left many objects throughout space — whether it's archaeology or simply littering is up for debate.

The Space Advocate Newsletter, April 2022

The Planetary Science Decadal Survey: after the red planet, an ice giant.

Color global view of Uranus from Voyager 2

Planetary Science Decadal Survey: After the Red Planet, an Ice Giant

After completing Mars Sample Return, Uranus should be the target of NASA's next major planetary mission, according to a major new report by the National Academies of Sciences.

Earthlings off-planet

Celebrate 61 years of humans in space, and take a look at the latest news from our exploration of the cosmos.

When will we explore Enceladus to find alien life?

While NASA will launch Dragonfly later this decade to Titan, another potentially habitable moon of Saturn, no space agency is currently funding a mission to Enceladus.

NASA's FY 2023 Budget Stays the Course

The Biden Administration proposed $26 billion for NASA — we break down the potential impacts to human exploration and planetary science.

The value of knowledge

Space exploration comes at a cost, but the investment is always worthwhile.

Not a planet? Not a problem.

Pluto, everyone’s favorite former planet, takes center stage in this week’s Downlink.

Join the exoparty

With new instruments and a growing number of discoveries, exoplanet and exomoon research is just getting started.

Where are the moons that orbit exoplanets?

Astronomers are searching for exomoons, or moons orbiting exoplanets. Although this idea has been around for a while, astronomers have only recently started having success in finding these elusive worlds.