Planetary Science and Resources Discoveries

Planetary scientists sharing ideas and discoveries.

Planetary Science and Resources Discoveries (PSRD) is an educational site sharing the latest research on the nature and origin of the Moon, meteorites, asteroids, planets, and other materials in our Solar System, and on identifying potential resources on those bodies that could be tapped for the benefit of people on Earth. Original support came from the Planetary Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium. This site is a vital link for what's new in planetary and space sciences, space resources exploration, and learning how science works.

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About PSRD

[ Who we are   |   Uses & copyrights   |   How to cite ]
[ Accessibility Statement   |    Privacy Statement ]
[ General Resources   |   Media   |   Awards ]


Enlightening Inquisitive Minds

Welcome to the PSRD website, a place to learn about the fascinating discoveries being made by planetary scientists. What are we finding out about the building blocks of planets and the building blocks of life? What's in an asteroid, in stardust, in a comet? Here you can discover for yourself the excitement of doing science and finding answers to these and more questions, through the eyes of today's researchers. We take to heart NASA's emphasis on communication and education. A goal of this website is "Educational Excellence," specifically, to "... inspire America's students, create learning opportunities, and enlighten inquisitive minds." We explore the science questions that researchers are actively pursuing, and explain how the answers are discovered and what they mean. In 2022 we expanded our scope to include studies of how to identify and use the resources of space to enable long-term human presence in space to further enhance our understanding of the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. Originally called Planetary Science Research Discoveries, we renamed the site Planetary Science and Resources Discoveries in August, 2022.

PSRD is a dynamic website covering topics in cosmochemistry and planetary sciences. Cosmochemistry is an interdisciplinary science that overlaps with geochemistry, geology, astronomy, astrophysics, and geophysics to discover the materials and fundamental processes in the solar nebula and our Solar System. These sciences give us complementary ways of looking at our origins by addressing questions such as, How did the Sun and planets form? Where did we come from? Cosmochemistry is a careful examination of the building blocks of the cosmos, and will play an important role in our ability to develop local resources on the Moon, Mars, and asteroids, essential to sustained human presence in space.

The PSRD website features Headline articles illustrated with graphics and animations, pdf versions for easier printing, short slide summaries of articles, CosmoSparks reports, a comprehensive archive, news links, glossary, search engine, subscription service, social-media sharing links, and comments page. The Headline article of the month is shown on our homepage and all the articles and reports from our entire collection are available in the archive. Use the navigation links on the page tops or bottoms to move throughout the website.

We began working on PSRD in September, 1996 and the first articles were posted in October, 1996. We gratefully acknowledge original support from NASA's Planetary Science Division's Cosmochemistry Program for funding our first 20 years and Emerging Worlds Program for four years. We gratefully acknowledge Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium for original and ongoing support.


Who We Are

Development, operation, content, and overall editorial management of the PSRD website are provided by cofounders G. Jeffrey Taylor and Linda M.V. Martel, planetary geoscientists.

Jeff Taylor is the recipient of the 2022 LEAG Community Service Award presented by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group—for extensive service to LEAG and the lunar community through excellence in leadership, mentoring and enriching the early-career community, and scientific contributions. Jeff also received the 2011 Shoemaker Distinguished Lunar Scientist Award presented by the NASA Lunar Science Institute—in recognition of his significant scientific contributions and leadership roles. Jeff is also the recipient of the 2008 Carl Sagan Medal awarded by the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society—for excellence in public communication of planetary science. See the SOEST Press Release for more details.

Linda Martel is the recipient of the 2018 Service Award presented by the Meteoritical Society—for advancing the Society's goals of promoting research and education in meteoritics and planetary science in ways other than by conducting scientific research, namely this PSRD website.

Jeff Taylor and Ron Fodor are coauthors of IMPACT! a Kindle eBook novel that tells a story centering around the threat of an Earth-crossing asteroid.

Sponsor/Support History

Original Funding (1996-2020): Planetary Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The material contained in this document is based upon work supported by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant or cooperative agreement. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA."

Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

Computer operational support is provided by Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.


Use Agreement & Copyrights

Please read this visitor's use agreement; by using this website, you accept its terms. We may change these terms from time to time without notice. By continuing to use the website after we post any such changes, you accept this agreement, as modified.

PSRD makes every effort to bring you current and accurate information. Each article is reviewed by appropriate researchers before being released to the general public. Some information accessed through the PSRD website may be preliminary. Conclusions drawn from information on this website are the responsibility of the user.

All copyrights are honored and noted. Information you receive through the PSRD website may be displayed and printed for personal, educational, and non-commercial uses, provided the PSRD credit is maintained. For other uses or for reproduction of PSRD materials in electronic, print or other publications, please contact PSRD. Furthermore, pages in this website may not be translated, transmitted, framed or stored in a retrieval system for public or private use without written permission from PSRD. Requests for permissions should be emailed to psrd@higp.hawaii.edu.

Images credited to NASA are in the public domain and permission is not required for use or duplication. Permission to use all other images or art work should be requested from the individuals or institutions credited.

The names Planetary Science Research Discoveries, Planetary Science and Resources Discoveries, PSRD, PSRD, and PSR Discoveries are copyrighted by G. Jeffrey Taylor and Linda M. V. Martel.


Citation Conventions

PSRD recommends following the Columbia Guide to Online Style for documenting Internet sources by Janice Walker and Todd Taylor. When citing PSRD articles or reports, provide the following information:

1. The author's name, written as: last name, first name or initial.
2. Date of publication, enclosed in parentheses.
3. Full title of the document.
4. Title of the complete work, written in italics.
5. Full URL.
6. Date you accessed the online source, written in parentheses.

Here is an example:
Taylor, G. Jeffrey (Oct. 1996) Life on Mars? The Evidence and the Debate. Planetary Science Research Discoveries. http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Oct96/LifeonMars.html (30 Jan. 2022).


Accessibility Statement

We strive to make PSRD web pages accessible and compliant with accessibility guidelines. We use a simple site navigation and for all images we provide alternate text, alt attributes, and captions. Since mid-2010 we use cascading style sheets and these web pages have been validated using http://validator.w3.org. If you encounter any accessibility problem in the PSRD website please contact us with a description of the problem and we will make every effort to solve it. psrd@higp.hawaii.edu


Privacy Statement

Information Collected and How it is Used. PSRD is hosted on a server at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. As with all internet websites, PSRD collects some information indirectly from all users visiting our website. What is collected and how it is used is explained below.

System Logging. Our web server and email systems keep log files about network transactions. The policy is to destroy these logs after they are 30 days old. We do analyze our web log files to calculate statistics on which pages are visited. We do not track individuals with this information. Email addresses of messages sent from our system are logged. These logs are not viewed unless necessary for security reasons and are deleted after 30 days.

Internet Addresses. PSRD gathers Internet Protocol Address (IP Addresses) and pages viewed as part of the logging system within our web server. When calculating statistics on visits and pages viewed IP addresses are used in broad calculations. IP addresses are never used to identify someone personally unless a security breach requires such an investigation.

No Use of Cookies. No privacy or personal information is stored in a cookie from this website. We may use session cookies for visitors to our site in the future, but we have no plans to do so. A session cookie is a temporary file stored in a web browser that is deleted when it either expires or the browser is closed. We may store a temporary number which helps us understand traffic patterns.

No Third Party Disclosure. PSRD does not disclose information to third parties.

Subscription List. PSRD provides an optional, email-based mailing list through the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Email addresses collected in the maintenance of this list are not shared outside of SOEST.

Links to External Sites. PSRD links to other sites for the convenience of our readers. We are not responsible for the content or collection practices of these sites and recommend you read their privacy policies before providing them information.


General Resources

Links to all sorts of great space-related websites for students and all readers can be found here: general resources.


Media

Watch interviews with PSRD about planetary science at these video links.


Awards

PSRD has been recognized with numerous awards as a quality educational science website.


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