Best of 2024 | The Planetary Society

Odysseus landing
The private Odysseus mission making the first commercial lunar landing

Europa Clipper launch
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission launching to study Jupiter’s ocean moon

Hera launch
ESA’s Hera mission launching to study the aftermath of the DART impact

SLIM lunar mission
JAXA’s SLIM lunar mission losing power and then recovering and completing its mission

Chang’e-6 sample return
China’s Chang’e-6 mission returning samples from the lunar farside

Binary asteroid discovery
NASA’s Lucy mission discovering a pair of asteroids orbiting Dinkinesh

Possible biosignatures
NASA’s Perseverance mission finding possible biosignatures at Cheyava Falls

Phosphate in asteroid
The discovery of phosphate in the asteroid sample returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission

InSight liquid water
NASA’s InSight mission discovering signs of liquid water under the Martian surface

Rocket flames
Depending on the type of fuel, rocket flames can reach temperatures as high as 3,300 degrees Celsius (6,000 degrees Fahrenheit). This is almost three times the temperature of the hottest lava found on Earth.

Lunar basin
The Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin is the second-largest confirmed impact basin in the Solar System after the North Polar Basin on Mars. At 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) in diameter, it stretches nearly a quarter of the way around the Moon.

Massive Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet by an even bigger margin than you might think. Jupiter is twice as massive as every other object in our Solar System, other than the Sun, combined. This includes every planet, moon, asteroid, and comet.

Most active volcano
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the entire Solar System, but it doesn’t actively produce lava. Jupiter’s moon Io has the Solar System’s most active volcano, Loki, which is topped with a lava lake 202 kilometers (126 miles) in diameter.

Total solar eclipse
The 2024 eclipse may hold the record for the most-watched total solar eclipse in history. Hundreds of millions of people were within driving distance of totality, and tens of millions more watched live streams of the eclipse online.

Venusian volcanoes
Venus has over 80,000 volcanoes on its surface, more than any other world in the Solar System. New analysis of radar images from NASA’s Magellan mission, which orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994, suggests that some Venusian volcanoes may still be active today.

Best Planetary Society accomplishment (thanks to the support of our members!)