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With a little help from our planet friends

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The Downlink • May 22, 2026 With a little help from our planet friends Space Snapshot NASA’s Psyche mission recently swung past Mars for a gravity assist on its way to the metallic asteroid Psyche. As it approached, it captured this dramatic image of the crescent red planet. Psyche came within 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) of the planet’s surface, moving at 19,848 kilometers per hour (12,333 mile...
This update from The Planetary Society presents a mix of scientific progress, policy advocacy, and public engagement, reflecting the multifaceted nature of space exploration. The strongest version of this narrative highlights tangible advancements—Psyche’s gravity assist, the FLIP rover’s upcoming mission, and the discovery of organic molecules on Mars—while acknowledging setbacks, such as the reevaluation of Europa’s plumes and the JWST’s lack of Earth-like exoplanet detections. The advocacy fo...