Articles

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

Seeking Small Worlds

A spacecraft leaves one asteroid as planetary defense experts turn to others.

A galaxy that spins in more ways than one

Listen to the sounds of the Whirlpool Galaxy and look back at our earliest picture of it.

Martian Ingenuity and Venusian imagination

Get a peek at the Martian moon and catch up on what the newest Mars explorer has been up to.

A cosmic bowling ball spinning through space

Jupiter is a world of extremes, and Venus hints at some mysteries. You can take action to help learn more about these worlds and others.

Making our mark on other worlds

Perseverance’s tracks show where it’s been. You can help decide where we’re going.

Cosmic streaks, smudges, and fuzz

See images of the cosmos that reflect fascinating features of worlds and stars, and take action to advance exploration.

A Perseverance extravaganza!

Witness the Mars rover’s dramatic landing from every angle, and help make more exploration like this happen.

LightSail 2 Image of Typhoon Vamco and the Phillipines

NASA solar sails build on LightSail 2

NEA Scout will visit a near-Earth asteroid and Solar Cruiser will test the largest solar sail yet.

The great conjunction! (And how it functions)

Everything you need to know about Saturn and Jupiter’s upcoming conjunction, and more from this week in space exploration.

Wish upon a shooting star (or a descending asteroid sample)

Hayabusa2 brings its sample safely to Earth, and the Geminids meteor shower approaches.

Carl Sagan’s wisdom and vision, and how far we’ve come since his time

Even Sagan would be amazed by multitudes we now know our cosmos may hold. Learn more, plus get your scoop on the week’s space news.

A space spookfest

Catch up on news from across the ghoul-axy and beyond.

Sample acquired! And: is your name in space?

Get the full scoop on Bennu and Venus, and get yourself the most cosmic face mask out there.

High-fiving Bennu and slingshotting Venus

Get ready for OSIRIS-REx’s upcoming sample collection and share your gift ideas for space lovers.

Your Guide to the OSIRIS-REx sample collection

NASA's OSIRIS-REx successfully collected a sample from asteroid Bennu on 20 October 2020.

Asteroid Bennu during OSIRIS-REx sample rehearsal

It's a banner year for sample return missions. In 2020, China, Japan, and the United States are all scheduled to have sample return missions in flight, seeking to retrieve material from near-Earth asteroids, the Moon, and eventually Mars.

The Next 10 Years

Six scientists share the major planetary science discoveries of the past decade, and the questions that will drive the next 10 years of solar system exploration.