Articles

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

At NASA's Johnson Space Center, Preparing for the Future of Human Spaceflight

As NASA kicks off a multi-decadal effort to send humans to Mars, the agency's traditional human spaceflight centers have had to adapt to new challenges—often more programmatic than technical.

Curiosity sol 1126 self-portrait at Big Sky

Curiosity update, sols 1109-1165: Drilling at Big Sky and Greenhorn, onward to Bagnold Dunes

Since my last update, Curiosity drilled two new holes, at Big Sky and Greenhorn, and is now approaching Bagnold Dunes.

OSIRIS-REx Progressing Through Environmental Testing

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft continues to make steady progress toward launch in September 2016. Environmental testing is now underway to ensure the spacecraft is ready for the many conditions it will experience over its mission.

Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Lesser-Known Beauty

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares stunning images of a few rarely-imaged pieces of our universe.

DPS 2015: First reconnaissance of Ceres by Dawn

This is the first major meeting since Dawn's arrival at Ceres, and despite competition with Pluto surface science there was a well-attended Ceres talk session on Monday and poster session on Tuesday.

Detecting Dust Devils with Insight

Planetary scientist and dust devil expert Ralph Lorenz describes how the upcoming Mars InSight lander's sensitive seismometer might be able to detect dust devils.

SpaceX Completes Crew Dragon Propulsion System Development Testing

SpaceX has completed development testing on its SuperDraco propulsion system, used to propel the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft away from a Falcon rocket in the event of a launch failure.

DPS 2015: Pluto's small moons Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra [UPDATED]

For my first post on results from the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, I'm going to tell you about Pluto's small moons: Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra, their bright colors and wacky rotation states.

Bill Nye�s �Unstoppable� Book & New Greatest Generation

In his new book, “Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World,” Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye addresses a “New Greatest Generation” -- today’s young leaders who embrace science and optimism for a viable future.

Could Sino-U.S. cooperation bring The Martian home?

In the The Martian, NASA astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars. At a critical moment, China offers to help the U.S. bring him back to Earth. But can these two countries cooperate to explore space in reality?

A Day in the Solar System: 28 October 2015

On October 28th, the Cassini spacecraft flew through the geyser plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus. But Cassini was not the only spacecraft operating in the solar system that day.

Every round object in the solar system under 10,000 kilometers in diameter, to scale (2015 version, update available)

Reporting from the 47th annual Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting, DPS15

I'll be reporting all week from Washington, D.C. from the 47th annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. Expect lots of news from New Horizons, Dawn, Cassini, MAVEN, WISE, and Rosetta missions, not to mention ground-based telescopes, plus a variety of other sources.