Planetary Society
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The Planetary Society is a large, publicly-supported, not-for-profit organization that has many research projects related to astronomy. It is based in Pasadena, California, but has an international membership. It was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman. The Society is dedicated to the exploration of Mars and the rest of the Solar System, the search for Near Earth Objects, and the search for extraterrestrial life. Its mission is "To inspire the people of Earth through education, research, and public participation to explore other worlds and seek other life."
The Society launched the Cosmos 1 craft in June 2005, to test the feasibility of Solar sailing, but the satellite's launch rocket failed shortly after liftoff. It is now raising seed funding for the next solar sail spacecraft.
Projects
The Planetary Society sponsors projects to seed further exploration. Members privately fund these projects:
- Earthdials
- Mars Stations
- Near-Earth Objects Research and Missions
- Planetrek
- Political Action
- Red Rover Goes to Mars
- Red Rover, Red Rover
- Scholarships
- Search for Extraterrestrial Life
- Solar sailing with Cosmos 1
The Planetary Report
The Planetary Report is the bimonthly flagship magazine of the Society. Although it is one of every membership benefits, as of 2005, it reaches over 100,000 members six times a year and it is viewed by over 90% of members as the first source of space exploration.
