I'm a planetary scientist who was born the year of Sputnik's launch. Over the course of my 40-year career, I've witnessed not one but at least five separate revolutions that fundamentally transformed ...

This study will describe how international and national planetary protection policy has been formulated and adopted and identify associated lessons to inform future policy development. The National ...

The Committee on Planetary Protection (CoPP) monitors progress implementing the planetary protection guidelines associated with priority programs and missions identified in the National Academies ...

Mercury, the innermost planet of our Solar System, has increasingly emerged as a natural laboratory for understanding planetary formation and evolution under extreme conditions. Recent investigations ...

In late December, a telescope in Chile discovered a small asteroid given the designation 2024 YR4. About a month later, initial observations of the asteroid, estimated to be 40 to 90 meters across, ...

A local planetary scientist has received a prestigious national award named in honor of a giant in the field who also called the Old Pueblo home. Faith Vilas, a senior scientist with the Tucson-based ...