He has published four books, Venus Revealed, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times book prize, Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life, which won the 2004 PEN literary award for nonfiction,[7] Earth in Human Hands, which was named one of NPR's Science Friday "Best Science Books of 2016" and Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto, co-authored with Alan Stern.

[5][15][16] Currently he serves on the Science Team for NASA's DAVINCI spacecraft mission which will launch to Venus in the 2030 timeframe.

Grinspoon writes the bi-monthly "Cosmic Relief" column for Sky & Telescope magazine, where he is also a contributing editor.

[19] In 2013, he was invited to give the Carl Sagan Lecture at the Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Grinspoon has won many awards including the 2006 Carl Sagan Medal by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society for excellence in public communication of planetary science; Alpha Geek 2007 by WIRED Magazine; the 2004 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction for Lonely Planets; 1997 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for Venus Revealed; and the 1989 Gerard P. Kuiper Memorial Award at the University of Arizona.