The Planetary Society

Space Snapshot Mars’ two moons are small. In this 2014 image from India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, you can see Phobos, the larger of the two, which is only about the length of a major city on Earth. Still, this tiny world may hold important clues about the history of the Solar System — that’s why Japan’s MMX spacecraft is going to retrieve a sample from its surface. Learn more in our guide to Phobos and Deimos. Image credit: ISRO/ISSDC/Emily Lakdawalla.

The effort to send an engineering copy of the Perseverance Rover to the Moon could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Written by Casey Dreier Chief of Space Policy, The Planetary Society July 30, 2026 In a surprise announcement, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shared that the agency may send an engineering duplicate of the Perseverance Mars rover to the Moon. “We've got this hardware that the taxpayers invested a lot in,” said Isaacman.

Highlights Phobos and Deimos are the two small, rocky moons that orbit Mars. Mars and Earth are the only rocky planets in the Solar System with moons. PlanetVac, a sample collection tool crowdfunded by The Planetary Society, will help bring back pieces of Phobos as part of Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. Small, irregular, fleeting Mars is the Roman god of war, corresponding to the Greek god Ares.

A Philanthropy Report for Members of The Planetary Society Written by Richard Chute Chief Advancement Officer, The Planetary Society July 28, 2026 A new chapter and you're part of it There’s a word we use a lot in space exploration: trajectory. It describes the path a spacecraft follows — shaped by physics, planning, and countless decisions made before launch. It’s a useful word for organizations, too. This summer, The Planetary Society is launching our next strategic vision.

This form is a chance to share your feedback and thoughts, as well as to suggest themes and topics for upcoming issues. We look forward to hearing from you.

Space Snapshot This is the first photograph ever taken from the surface of Mars. It was taken on July 20, 1976, by NASA’s Viking 1 lander shortly after landing on Mars. Viking 1 operated on Mars for 2,307 days, far exceeding its planned 90-day mission. Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy Casey Dreier reflects on the Viking program’s lasting impact 50 years later. Image credit: NASA. Fact Worth Sharing After Viking 1 and 2, it took 17 years before NASA launched another Mars mission.

Space Snapshot You never know when you might make an impactful discovery. Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe was using Google Maps to plan a camping vacation in 2024 when he came across a feature in Quebec's Côte-Nord region that reminded him of an impact crater. He reported the finding, and now field investigations have found geological evidence that this previously-unknown feature is indeed a crater from an impact 390 million years ago.

Written by Asa Stahl, PhD • Science Review by Bruce Betts, PhD July 17, 2026 The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA’s next flagship orbital observatory, with the power to reshape what we know about planets throughout the galaxy and help uncover the true nature of dark matter and dark energy. It is a mission on the same scale as the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope. Why is NASA launching the Roman Space Telescope?

Written by Ari Koeppel, PhD Policy and Advocacy Fellow, The Planetary Society July 15, 2026 On Monday, The Planetary Society submitted its formal comment on the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposed rule, "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," and the comment period is now closed. We were not alone. Thousands of our members and supporters filed comments of their own as part of a national wave of nearly 500,000 comments.

Space Snapshot On Sunday, July 5, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Hayabusa2 probe performed a close flyby of the asteroid Torifune, capturing this image of the two-lobed near-Earth object. Hayabusa2 aimed to fly very close past Torifune without colliding, and it came as close as 800 meters (0.5 miles) from the asteroid’s center.