AGU's Planetary Sciences Section encompasses basic research into the nature of planets and how they work, as well as the planning and implementation of space missions for exploration and discovery. Members of the Section are interested in understanding both the current properties of the known planets and the formation and evolution of each planetary body and its environment from the core through the magnetosphere. Small bodies, that is, rings, satellites, comets, asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects are also within our purview. The area of Astrobiology seeks to understand the conditions and environments that might have been conducive to the origin and evolution of life, and to the formation, detection and characterization of extra-solar planets