Planetary Society

Who should decide what science gets funded: scientists or political appointees? Right now, it's scientists. A new OMB rule would hand that power to political appointees instead. Comment by July 13 to stop it. ⬇️ planetary.org/ombgrantrules

Everything you need to know about Torifune, the two-lobed asteroid Japan's Hayabusa2 flew by. ⬇️ planetary.org/articles/hayab…

118 years ago today, an asteroid exploded over Siberia, flattening an estimated 80 million trees. On June 30, 1908, an asteroid or comet roughly 30 meters (100 feet) across, entered Earth’s atmosphere and exploded high above the remote Tunguska region of Siberia. The blast leveled approximately 80 million trees across 2,150 square kilometers (830 square miles). The explosion is estimated to have released energy roughly 1,000 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Had it occurred over a major metropolitan area, an entire city could have been devastated. Fortunately, it happened in one of the most remote regions on Earth, and no confirmed fatalities are known. Every year on June 30, the global space community marks Asteroid Day, commemorating the Tunguska event and reminding us that near-Earth objects (NEOs) pose a real, natural hazard. Detecting, tracking, and characterizing these objects is one of the best ways to protect our planet. That’s why The Planetary Society funds astronomers searching for NEOs. Investing in planetary defense today helps safeguard our world for future generations. 🌎

So you heard we had a blind spot when looking for asteroids? Meet NEO Surveyor, the telescope that's designed to find 90% of Near Earth Objects larger than 140 meters within 10 years of operation. The Planetary Society helped to convince Congress why it's important and now it's slated to launch as early as 2027. planetary.org/articles/the-n…

Did you know asteroid Apophis will fly by Earth in 2029 and get closer than our geosynchronous satellites? It's big enough to level a city. Asteroid Apophis would fit neatly inside The Battery, a park at the tip of Manhattan in New York City. This image shows an artist's concept of Apophis in the park to illustrate its size in comparison to the rest of the New York City skyline. Finding and tracking asteroids is how we protect Earth. The Planetary Society funds grants to asteroid hunters around the world doing exactly that. Support the work: planet.ly/RWFni

You've heard we fund asteroid hunters. But who are they and how are they contributing to planetary defense? Find out who the recent grant winners are ⬇️ Interested in helping to fund our program? Support the work: planet.ly/P084i planetary.org/articles/2025-…

The dinosaurs didn't have planetary defense. 🦖☄️ Asteroid Day is June 30 and we're going live to talk all things asteroids with Twitch creator Moohoodles! When: Tuesday, June 30 at 6 pm MT (5 pm PT/8 pm ET) Where: Twitch.tv/Moohoodles Topics: ☄️What is Asteroid Day and why it matters ☄️The Planetary Society’s role in planetary defense ☄️Asteroid missions everyone should know — including Apophis, DART, Hayabusa2, Tianwen-2, and more ☄️What Vera Rubin Observatory and NASA’s NEO Surveyor mean for the future of asteroid detection Save this post and tune in!

Not all asteroids are the same — some are carbon-rich time capsules from the early solar system, others are giant chunks of metal. Learn what makes each type unique ⬇️ planetary.org/articles/what-…

China's Tianwen-2 recently arrived at Kamoʻoalewa, a mysterious quasi-satellite of Earth. @PlanRad host Sarah Al-Ahmed spoke with journalist Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) about what the mission means for space exploration. planetary.org/articles/china…

The eclipse map is back! In partnership with The Eclipse Company, we give you access to the only map you'll ever need for tracking where the 2026 total solar eclipse will land and what to expect. Check it out here: planetary.org/eclipse

We're on tour! 🥳 Join us with Jennifer Vaughn, CEO of The Planetary Society, in cities across the country for an intimate gathering of Planetary Society members. Share your passion for space exploration, get an exclusive first look at our upcoming programs, and help shape the future of planetary science and advocacy. Check out which city we're visiting next ⬇️ planetary.org/roundtable

Eclipse glasses reminder: the August 12 total solar eclipse is crossing Iceland and Spain, and if you're traveling to catch totality, your eye protection needs to meet the right safety standard. Here's how to check ⬇️ planetary.org/articles/are-y…

Three total solar eclipses are happening across the globe in the next three years and now is the time to start planning. Here's everything you need to know about where to go and how to prepare. ☀️ 🌑 🌎 planetary.org/articles/20170…

Free astronomy festival begins this Sunday, June 14th in Pasadena! Build a comet, see the Sun up close, watch gravitational wave demos, catch talks on black holes, exoplanets, asteroids, and more! The Planetary Society is joining Caltech, JPL, Carnegie, and more at the City of Astronomy Science Festival, and it's free for everyone. Starting event: 📅 June 14 🕐 1–5 PM 📍 Pasadena Convention Center Learn more about all the events: cityofastronomy.org/astrofest2026

Artemis III is the next step in NASA’s plan to bring humankind back to the Moon. Here's everything you need to know ⬇️ planetary.org/articles/what-…

Humans just flew around the Moon for the first time in 50 years. So what comes next and are we actually ready for it? This month's Planetary Report goes deep on the physiology of long-duration spaceflight, the policy forces shaping human exploration, and the technology bridging Apollo to Artemis. Download the PDF version for free: planetary.org/planetary-repo…

We built this interactive dashboard as a side-by-side "track changes" comparison for the proposed OMB rules. At hundreds of pages of dense regulatory text, we show exactly what the current rules say versus what the proposed rules would change, section by section, across all 399 affected provisions. dashboards.planetary.org/rules-change/

Do you still have questions about the OMB's proposed rule? This month's episode of Space Policy Edition podcast with Casey Dreier features Elizabeth Ginexi, and they work through the proposed rules changes to federal grantmaking that would suppress, isolate, and set back American science. Listen here: planetary.org/planetary-radi…

We've created a simple guide for the professional scientific community on how OMB's proposed grant-making rules affect your work. These rules would give political appointees control over grant funding decisions, reduce peer review to advisory status only, and allow active grants to be terminated without justification. Access it here: planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/pdfs/om…

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget just proposed new rules that would let political appointees, not scientists, decide which research gets funded in the United States. Under these rules, a senior political official would have to personally approve every single federal grant before it goes out. Peer review, which has been the gold standard for evaluating science on merit, would be reduced to just a suggestion. And if your research falls out of political favor? Any active grant can be revoked at any time, with no explanation required. We're talking about NASA grants, NSF grants, the funding that powers discoveries about our Universe and our planet. This rule was not written by NASA's leadership, and it works against the agency's own exploration goals for the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The rules would also ban entire categories of research outright, and cut off collaboration with scientists from other countries, even if those researchers live in the U.S. Researchers wouldn't even be able to use grant money to publish their findings or attend scientific conferences without getting special permission first. This affects everyone from PhD students to career scientists to all of us whose lives improve because of federally funded research. The public comment period is open right now, but this time, we're not asking you to sign a form letter. We need your actual words, your story, to make a difference. Identical submissions get counted as a single comment, so the more you write, the less OMB can ignore us. We cannot stress how dangerous this rule would be if enacted. But we can stop this if enough people submit their personal story of why peer-reviewed science is important. The deadline to submit comments is July 13th. planetary.org/advocacy-actio…