Eris and Makemake may be more active than we thought. New observations from JWST suggest that the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake might have warm geochemistry taking place in their rocky cores. Both worlds are located in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune …
Amid the cost growth, political division, and management missteps roiling NASA and ESA’s Mars Sample Return program, it is not unreasonable to ask if there are more affordable alternatives to return these samples to Earth, namely SpaceX’s own Mars project …
OSIRIS-APEX is a mission to shadow Apophis, a giant asteroid, just after the rock barely avoids hitting Earth. If successful, OSIRIS-APEX will take modern humanity’s closest call with a major asteroid and turn it into an opportunity: a chance to better …
Choose a viewing location Find a spot that offers a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. Public parks, open fields, rooftops, and even backyards can be great choices. Make sure the location is easily accessible and comfortable for guests, considering …
Would you predict that life could exist on Titan? The moon of Saturn is the only other place in the Solar System with liquid lakes, rivers, and seas on its surface. This sounds like a recipe for life — except Titan’s liquids are ethane and methane, not …
Packed with interactive activities and featuring Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, and CaLisa Lee, a Planetary Society volunteer, the booklet serves as a comprehensive guide for young explorers interested in eclipses, with each activity thoughtfully …
Briefly, they are: do the science, do it now, and do it with balance. That is: Return the full suite of samples collected by the Perseverance rover, don’t leave precious samples on the surface to shave proverbial pennies off the project’s cost; Don’t delay …
Gurbir Singh: India went to Mars in 2013 because there was a Chinese spacecraft on board the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft launched by Russia in 2011. That spacecraft never left Earth orbit and failed. India realized that there would be an opportunity to launch …
Quasi-moons like this had been predicted, but none had been discovered until Skiff spotted and tracked Zoozve in 2002. Since then, a quasi-moon of Neptune has been discovered, as well as seven quasi-moons of Earth. Because Zoozve crosses Earth’s orbital …
Europa’s subsurface oceans are thought to contain twice as much water as all of Earth’s oceans combined. Measurements of the moon’s magnetic field also hinted that this water might be salty, suggesting it is in contact with a rocky seabed — a potential …
Uranus is full of mystery. The distant ice giant is one of the Solar System’s lesser-explored planets, having only been visited once — and briefly — by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft. Learn about Uranus’ biggest unsolved mysteries and the mission that could …
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 …
What is Congress doing about it? In this situation, it’s not useful to consider “Congress” as a single entity. There are factions within the U.S. Congress that hold mutually incompatible positions regarding MSR and, thus, JPL’s workforce woes. On Feb. 1, …
Within the orbit of Jupiter’s innermost large moon, Io, are four smaller moons: Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, and Thebe. They are known as the Inner Group, or the Amalthea group after their largest member, which measures 270 kilometers (168 miles) at its …
The Hera mission is also slated to launch in October 2024. The spacecraft will visit asteroid Didymos and its small moon Dimorphos, which the DART spacecraft intentionally impacted in 2022. Hera will investigate DART’s aftermath, helping us understand …
Samples are waiting for us on Mars. Here’s how to get them back. NASA’s Mars Sample Return program is a top scientific priority, but findings from an independent review board show that the project’s current schedule and budget are untenable. The Planetary …
Orlando Figueroa: In my opinion, there is no reason why they couldn't do both. There is a human exploration side of the House and the science side of the House, and they both have a special role in what they contribute to NASA and the nation. It's …
The Planetary Society believes in the scientific exploration of space, in an open and welcoming curiosity in its practice, and that we as a species are bettered by the effort to know the Cosmos and our place within it. The Society’s core pillars of …
Internal structure Uranus does not have a solid surface. Beneath the planet’s atmosphere lies a slushy mix of water, methane, and ammonia. A rocky core probably lies at the planet’s center. What happens within the planet’s icy layers is a mystery, said …
Mars is called the red planet, but its actual color may not be so simple. Much of what we know about the colors of worlds beyond Earth comes from spacecraft data, but those don’t map perfectly to what our eyes see. While the true colors of the planets may …
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