The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political

space advocacy Space advocacy is supporting or advocating for a human use of outer space. Purposes advocated can reach from space exploration, or commercial use of space to even space settlement. There are many different individuals and organizations dedicat ...

for engineering projects related to

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

planetary science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their f ...

, and

space exploration Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...

. It was founded in 1980 by

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

, Bruce Murray, and

Louis Friedman Louis Dill Friedman (born July 7, 1941) is an American astronautics engineer and space spokesperson. He was born in New York and raised in the Bronx. Dr. Friedman was a co-founder of The Planetary Society with Carl Sagan and Bruce C. Murray. E ...

, and has about 60,000 members from more than 100 countries around the world. The Society is dedicated to the

exploration of the Solar System Discovery and exploration of the Solar System is observation, visitation, and increase in knowledge and understanding of Earth's "cosmic neighborhood". This includes the Sun, Earth and the Moon, the major planets Mercury (planet), Mercury, Venus, ...

, the search for

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

s, and the search for

extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

. The society's mission is stated as: "Empowering the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration." The Planetary Society is a strong advocate for space funding and missions of exploration within NASA. They lobby Congress and engage their membership in the United States to write and call their representatives in support of NASA funding. In addition to public outreach, The Planetary Society has sponsored

solar sail Solar sails (also known as light sails and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been p ...

and microorganisms-in-space projects to foster space exploration. In June 2005, the Society launched the ''

Cosmos 1 Cosmos 1 was a project by Cosmos Studios and The Planetary Society to test a solar sail in space. As part of the project, an unmanned solar-sail spacecraft named ''Cosmos 1'' was launched into space at 19:46:09 UTC (15:46:09 EDT) on 21 June ...

'' craft to test the feasibility of

ing, but the rocket failed shortly after liftoff. LightSail was originally conceived as a series of three

experiments"LightSail: A Multi-Mission Project"
, The Planetary Society website. Retrieved 2011-05-05. but later shortened to two missions. LightSail 1 launched on May 20, 2015, and demonstrated a test deployment of its solar sail on June 7, 2015.

LightSail 2 LightSail is a project to demonstrate controlled solar sailing within low Earth orbit using a CubeSat. The project was developed by The Planetary Society, a global non-profit organization devoted to space exploration. It consists of two space ...

launched on June 25, 2019, and successfully used sunlight to change its orbit.

Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment The Living Interplanetary Flight ExperimentAsian Scientist"Phobos-Grunt Mission Carrying Yinghuo-1 Space Probe Suffers Technical Glitch" Srinivas Laxman, 9 November 2011 (LIFE or Phobos LIFE) was an interplanetary mission developed by the Planetar ...

(LIFE), was a two-part program designed to test the ability of microorganisms to survive in space."LIFE Experiment: Shuttle & Phobos: FAQ"
The Planetary Society website. Retrieved 2011-05-05. The first phase flew on

STS-134 STS-134 ( ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the International ...

, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''s final flight in 2011. The second phase rode on Russia's

Fobos-Grunt Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (russian: link=no, Фобос-Грунт, where ''грунт'' refers to the ''ground'' in the narrow geological meaning of any type of soil or rock exposed on the surface) was an attempted Russian sample return mis ...

mission, which attempted to go to Mars' moon Phobos and back but failed to escape Earth orbit.

History

The Planetary Society was founded in 1980 by

, Bruce Murray, and

as a champion of public support of space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. Until the death of Carl Sagan in 1996, the Society was led by Sagan, who used his celebrity and political clout to influence the political climate of the time, including protecting

SETI The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other p ...

in 1981 from congressional cancellation. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Society pushed its scientific and technologic agenda, which led to an increased interest in

rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US * ...

-based planetary exploration and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's ''

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

'' mission to

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

. In addition to its political affairs, the Society has created a number of space related projects and programs. The SETI program began with

Paul Horowitz Paul Horowitz (born 1942) is an American physicist and electrical engineer, known primarily for his work in electronics design, as well as for his role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (see SETI). Biography At age 8, Horowitz ac ...

's Suitcase SETI and has grown to encompass searches in radio and optical wavelengths from the northern and southern hemispheres of the Earth. SETI@home, the largest distributed computing experiment on Earth, is perhaps the Society's best-known SETI project. Other projects include the development of the Mars Microphone instrument which flew on the failed

Mars Polar Lander The Mars Polar Lander, also known as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a 290-kilogram robotic spacecraft lander launched by NASA on January 3, 1999, to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars. It for ...

project, as well as two

LightSail LightSail is a project to demonstrate controlled solar sailing within low Earth orbit using a CubeSat. The project was developed by The Planetary Society, a global non-profit organization devoted to space exploration. It consists of two spacecr ...

projects,

technology demonstrators designed to determine whether space travel is possible by using only sunlight.

Program summary

The Planetary Society currently runs seven different program areas with a number of programs in each area: * Advocacy and education *

Extrasolar planets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

* Innovative technologies * International mission participation *

Mars exploration The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding its geology and habit ...

Near-Earth objects A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

Search for extraterrestrial life The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of interstellar communication, transmissions fro ...

Organization

The Planetary Society is currently governed by a 12-member volunteer board of directors chosen for their passion about and knowledge of space exploration. The Board has a chairman, President, and Vice President and an Executive Committee, and normally meets twice per year to set the Society's policies and future directions. Nominations are sought and considered periodically from a variety of sources, including from members of the Board and Advisory Council, Society Members, staff, and experts in the space community."Board of Directors"
The Planetary Society webpage. Retrieved 2015-05-13. On June 7, 2010, the Society announced that American science educator

Bill Nye William Sanford Nye (born November 27, 1955), popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American mechanical engineer, science communicator, and television presenter. He is best known as the host of the science television show ''Bill ...

would become the new executive director of the society.

Members

The Planetary Society's current board of directors consists of: *

, chief executive officer * Daniel Geraci, chairman of the board * Bethany Ehlmann, President and member of executive committee *

Heidi Hammel Heidi B. Hammel (born March 14, 1960) is a planetary astronomer who has extensively studied Neptune and Uranus. She was part of the team imaging Neptune from Voyager 2 in 1989. She led the team using the Hubble Space Telescope to view Shoem ...

, Vice President and member of executive committee * Lon Levin, Treasurer of the Board and member of executive committee *

Jim Bell James Dalton Bell (born 1958) is an American crypto-anarchist who created the idea of arranging for anonymously sponsored assassination payments via the Internet, which he called "assassination politics". He was imprisoned on felony charges of ...

, Secretary and member of executive committee *

G. Scott Hubbard G. Scott Hubbard (born December 27, 1948) is a physicist who has been engaged in space-related research as well as program, project and executive management for more than 45 years including 20 years with NASA, culminating as director of NASA's Ame ...

John Logsdon John Logsdon is the founder and from 1987 to 2008 was the Director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. In 2003, Logsdon was a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He is a former member of the NASA Advi ...

* Britney Schmidt * Bijal (Bee) Thakore * Fillmore Wood *

Robert Picardo Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Cowboy in ''Innerspace'', Coach Cutlip on ''The Wonder Years'', Captain Dick Richard on the ABC series ''China Beach'', the Doctor on '' Star ...

The advisory council consists of: *

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

Robert D. Braun Robert David Braun is an American aerospace engineer and academic. He has served as the dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, the David and Andrew Lewis Professor of Space Technology at t ...

David Brin Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo,Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a po ...

* Gary E. Hunt *

Bruce Jakosky Bruce Martin Jakosky (born December 9, 1955) is a professor of Geological Sciences and associate director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has been involved with the Viking prog ...

* Charles E. Kohlhase Jr. *

Ben Lamm Ben Lamm is an American serial entrepreneur best known for partnering with George Church on the idea for de-extinction and founding a venture capital-backed startup known as Colossal to support Church's work in the development of genetic engin ...

Laurie Leshin Laurie Leshin is an American scientist and academic administrator serving as the 10th Director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and as Vice President and Bren Professor of Geochemistry and Planetary Science at California Institute of Technol ...

Jon Lomberg Jon Lomberg (born 1948) is an American space artist and science journalist. He was Carl Sagan's principal artistic collaborator for more than twenty years on many projects from 1972 through 1996. In 1998, the International Astronomical Union offici ...

Rosaly Lopes Rosaly M. C. Lopes (born January 8, 1957) is a planetary geologist, volcanologist, an author of numerous scientific papers and several books, as well as a proponent of education. Her major research interests are in planetary and terrestrial su ...

* Bob McDonald * Donna L. Shirley * Pete Slosberg * Kevin Stube *

Lorne Trottier Lorne M. Trottier, OC (born 15 June 1948) is a Canadian engineer, businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded Matrox, a computer corporation that specializes in computer graphics. Trottier sits as an advisor to Canada's Ecofiscal Commission. ...

Other well known members: *

Emily Lakdawalla Emily Stewart Lakdawalla (born February 8, 1975) is an American planetary geologist and former Senior Editor of The Planetary Society, contributing as both a science writer and a blogger. She has also worked as a teacher and as an environmental ...

Science and technology

The Planetary Society sponsors science and technology projects to seed further exploration. All of these projects are funded by the Society's members and donors. Some projects include: * Earthdials * FINDS Exo-Earths * Micro-Rovers for Assisting Humans *

Mars Climate Sounder ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, an ...

Pioneer anomaly The Pioneer anomaly, or Pioneer effect, was the observed deviation from predicted accelerations of the ''Pioneer 10'' and ''Pioneer 11'' spacecraft after they passed about on their trajectories out of the Solar System. The apparent anomaly was ...

* Near-Earth Objects Research * Planetrek * Laser Bees *

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other pl ...

Solar sail Solar sails (also known as light sails and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been p ...

ing with ''

'' and the

project * ''

'' * SETI@home

''The Planetary Report''

The '' Planetary Report'' is the quarterly internationally recognized flagship magazine of The Planetary Society, featuring articles and full-color photos to provide comprehensive coverage of discoveries on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

and other planets. It went from bimonthly to quarterly with the June (summer solstice) 2011 issue. This magazine reaches 60,000 members of The Planetary Society all over the world, with news about

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

ary missions, spacefaring nations, space explorers, planetary science controversies, and the latest findings in humankind's exploration of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

. It will be edited beginning in September 2018 by

, who takes over from Donna Stevens.

''Planetary Radio''

The Planetary Society also produces ''

Planetary Radio Planetary means relating to a planet or planets. It can also refer to: ;Science * Planetary habitability, the measure of an astronomical body's potential to develop and sustain life * Planetary nebula, an astronomical object ;People * Planetary ...

'', a weekly 30-minute radio program and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

hosted and produced by

Mat Kaplan Mat Kaplan is an American radio personality. He is the former host of ''Planetary Radio'', a radio talk show about space exploration produced by The Planetary Society. Career Kaplan's extensive background in journalism has ranged from public ...

. The show's programming consists mostly of

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

s and telephone-based conversations with scientists,

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

project managers A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined ...

, artists, writers,

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, and many other professionals who can provide some insight or perspective into the current state of space exploration.

Science and Technology Empowered by the Public program

In 2022, the Planetary Society awarded its first grants as part of its Science and Technology Empowered by the Public (STEP) program. The inaugural grant winners were a team from

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

for a

project and a team from

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...

, Serbia, for a planetary defense project.

UnmannedSpaceflight.com

''UnmannedSpaceflight.com'' is funded by the Planetary Society, and uses the

internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

software ''Invision Power Board'' from

Invision Power Services Invision Community is a brand of Internet forum, forum software developed in 2002 and originally marketed as Invision Power Board. The current version of the software was written in PHP and uses MySQL for database management system, database st ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Planetary Society, The Astronomy websites Clubs and societies in California Non-profit technology Space organizations Organizations based in Pasadena, California Non-profit organizations based in California 501(c)(3) organizations Scientific organizations established in 1980 1980 establishments in California Science and technology in California