About The Planetary Society

Mission: Empowering the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration.

In 1980, Carl Sagan, Louis Friedman, and Bruce Murray founded The Planetary Society. They saw enormous public interest in space that was not reflected by government investment, as NASA’s budget was cut again and again. They established The Planetary Society to give anyone from anywhere in the world an active role in advancing space exploration.

Today, The Planetary Society continues this work, under the leadership of CEO Bill Nye, as the world’s largest and most influential non-profit space organization. The organization is registered 501(c)3 non-profit and engages a global community of more than 2 million space enthusiasts.

Anyone can become a member. Through advocacy, education and outreach, scientific innovation, and global collaboration, membership funds our mission to:

• Increase discoveries in our Solar System and beyond

• Elevate the search for life outside our planet

• Decrease the risk of Earth being hit by an asteroid

Current Strategic Framework: Space for Everyone

More about Planetary Society programs:

Space Policy and Advocacy

The Space Policy & Advocacy program is The Planetary Society's branch that directly interacts with legislators, policymakers, and stakeholders at the federal and international levels. The Planetary Society maintains a full-time presence in Washington, D.C. and participates in the process of developing space policy by providing original analysis, releasing policy recommendations, and generating useful data for public and academic use.

The flagship event for the Space Policy & Advocacy program is the annual Day of Action, which routinely attracts over 100 space advocates from around the country to meet with their representatives in Washington to advance Society priorities.

The Planetary Society is a founding partner of the Planetary Science Congressional Caucus, the first and only Congressional member organization dedicated to the advancement of space science, planetary defense, and the search for life. The Caucus was originally founded in 2018, and was reorganized in 2023 under the leadership of Representatives Judy Chu and Don Bacon.

Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition is the premier dedicated space policy podcast. Hosted by Chief of Space Policy, Casey Dreier, SPE is a monthly podcast that seeks to discuss the history, theory, and practice of space policy. Notable guests on the podcast include Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Dr. Scott Pace, Dr. Laurie Leshin, and many more.

Science and Technology

Our Science & Technology program provides citizens with opportunities to participate in space science and technology projects, improves the quality and quantity of space science and technology projects in which citizens can participate, and provides funding to innovative new science and technology.

Shoemaker NEO Grants Grants ($5K to $15K) provide crucial observatory upgrades to highly capable amateur observers around the world to conduct follow-up, characterization, and discovery observations of near Earth asteroids to protect Earth from asteroid impact. 70 grants, >$500K total to observers from 21 countries over 27 years.

Science and Technology Empowered by the public (STEP) Grants are a recent international grants program. Competed every 2 years and awards grants of the $50 K level currently to carry out science or technology projects that match our core enterprises. Seeks projects where that level of funding can make a difference and move projects to the next level or fill a underfunded niche. Four have been awarded so far.

LightSail Program: achieved the first controlled solar sailing in a small satellite (CubeSat). By far the largest and most complex of TPS projects. Consisted of 2 missions: LightSail 1, a test mission, and LightSail 2 that demonstrated controlled solar sailing and orbited Earth from 2019 to 2022.

PlanetVac: TPS provided two grants at crucial times in the development of a new planetary surface sampling technology. Helped to move it each time to the next development phase. Now scheduled to fly on a Moan mission and the Japanese MMX Mars moon sample return mission.

Communications and Outreach

The Planetary Society's Communications and Outreach program creates accessible educational content about space exploration, helps the scientific community inform the public, and helps citizens educate each other in order to expand the public's knowledge and enthusiasm about space.

We serve an audience of over 7 million people around the world who consume our content on the web, email, podcasts, video, social media, digital community, and quarterly print magazine. We employ the best practices in digital marketing to attract supporters and build relationships to grow the number of people engaged with space.

We have expertise in creating engaging public outreach campaigns such as our Planetfests, naming contests, Messages to Earth. We're responsible for helping the public name the Magellan Venus orbiter; the Mars rovers Sojourner, Spirit, and Opportunity; and the asteroids Braille and Bennu. We've sent names of Planetary Society members and supporters on 20 space missions.

Global Collaboration

Discovering our place in the cosmos is a goal that the whole world can and should work together to achieve. Our global collaboration work brings together explorers from around the planet to achieve great things. Our work seeks to cultivate a worldwide movement to ensure the brightest possible future for space science and exploration.

We are 2 million+ space enthusiasts and advocates from around the world, including 50,000 passionate members from over 100 countries. Together, we are the largest independent space interest organization in the Cosmos.

We partner with companies and brands, subject matter experts, and some of the other largest global space organizations including World Space Week, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, and the International Astronautical Federation. The Planetary Society's partnership programs support four goals: 1) directly achieving our mission of promoting space science and exploration; 2) elevating our brand and visibility to US and international audiences; 3) attracting new members; and 4) providing financial resources to support the organization and its mission.

Through our partnerships program, The Planetary Society is broadening our reach to kids under the age of 10. We are collaborating with a children's television studio to produce a new show titled Space Ships that will embody the mission and core enterprises of the Society. And, through a partnership with Lerner Publications Group, we’re expanding access to space-related books available in school library. In 2023 alone, The Planetary Society is publishing 9 books with Lerner.