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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
A Crash Program or Modest Proposal?
The White House released a long-awaited supplemental budget request for NASA today. It proposes an additional $1.6 billion for an accelerated human spaceflight effort to land on the Moon in 2024. This boosts the President's budget request for NASA to $22.6 billion in fiscal year 2020, which is approximately $1.1 billion or 5% more than the amount provided by Congress last year.
Chandrayaan-2 Launch Delayed until July
India's combination lunar orbiter, lander, and rover spacecraft was previously scheduled to lift off in May.
What Can We Learn from a Failed Return to the Moon?
Thirty years ago, President George H.W. Bush announced an ambitious program to return humans to the Moon. It failed. Today the Trump Administration wants the same thing. Can a failed lunar return effort help this one succeed?
Chang’e-4 Updates: Yutu-2 Roves into Overtime, Returns More Images
China’s Chang’e-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover are continuing to function well and have completed their fourth lunar day.
Software Command to Fix Faulty Sensor Doomed Beresheet
Six days after SpaceIL's Beresheet spacecraft crash-landed on the Moon, we now have an explanation for what went wrong.
Beresheet Comes Close before Crashing on the Moon
Mission controllers announced Beresheet had a problem with its main engine, and the spacecraft stopped transmitting shortly thereafter.
Beresheet is about to Land on the Moon
A successful landing will make SpaceIL the first private organization, and Israel the fourth country, to soft-land on the Moon.
T-minus Five Years and Counting
Can NASA really return astronauts to the Moon by 2024?
Beresheet Has Entered Lunar Orbit!
SpaceIL's Beresheet Moon lander successfully entered lunar orbit today after a 6-minute engine burn that began at 14:18 UTC / 10:18 EDT.
Beresheet Gears up for Lunar Rendezvous
The Israeli spacecraft is set to enter lunar orbit on 4 April at 17:57 UTC (13:57 EDT).
Yutu-2 Rocks On into Lunar Day 3 for Chang’e-4 mission
China’s Yutu-2 rover is continuing to make tracks on the lunar far side.
Fun With a New Data Set: The OSIRIS-REx Earth Flyby
The OSIRIS-REx team recently issued their first data release to the Planetary Data System. This release doesn’t include any closeup pictures of asteroid Bennu, but it does include all the pictures they took during their September 2017 Earth flyby.
Beresheet Overcomes Early Glitches, Continues Journey to the Moon
The spacecraft performed its second engine burn, raising the highest point of its orbit to more than a third of the way to the Moon.
Beresheet has launched!
SpaceIL's Beresheet spacecraft is on its way to the Moon following a successful launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida.
What to expect when Beresheet launches to (and lands on) the Moon
Launch day is almost here for the small lunar lander built by Israeli non-profit SpaceIL.
Stunning new images show what the Chang'e-4 mission has been up to
Chang’e-4 is sending home brilliant footage from its various spacecraft, while also being snapped by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Why are there no stars in most space images?
Look up at space at night from a dark location and you can see innumerable stars. Why, then, do photos of so many things in space show black space, devoid of stars?
Israeli Beresheet Moon lander ships to Florida for mid-February launch
Launch is currently set for 19 February, and Beresheet will spend two months traveling to the Moon ahead of touchdown in April.
Chang'e-4 update: Both vehicles healthy, new imagery from the Moon’s far side
Everything is going well 9 days after China's Chang'e-4 mission made a historic landing on the far side of the Moon, the country's space program said today.
Chang'e 4: Why the Moon's far side looks red in new images
In Apollo images — and to our own eyes, from Earth — the Moon is grey. What's going on?