Space

Masten Space Systems is working on a way to protect future lunar landers from the regolith thrown up by their engines as they land, by using their engine plume to create their own landing pads just before touchdown.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has grand plans when it comes to tackling the growing problem of space junk, and startup Rocket Lab has just been enlisted to get its first efforts off the ground.

An incredible image of a solar eclipse has won this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Selected from more than 4,500 entries, the shot was awarded alongside other highlights, including a technically masterful mosaic of our Milky Way.

In another landmark moment for China's fledgling space exploration program, three astronauts sent to work on the country's under-development space station safely returned to Earth on Friday, after spending three months in orbit.

Inspiration4, the first all-private crewed mission into space, has returned to Earth. The Crew Dragon capsule chartered by billionaire Jared Isaacman splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida after three days in orbit.

The Inspiration4 mission has lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission differs from any previous crewed mission in that it is the first conducted entirely as a private venture.

Astronomers have detected a strange radio source from near the center of the Milky Way. The signal repeats seemingly at random and can’t be attributed to any known astronomical object, leading the team to consider that it may be something brand new.

NASA has finally set a date for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). If all goes to plan, the long-awaited flagship mission will blast into orbit on December 18, 2021, from French Guiana onboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

NASA has released an image showing that the Perseverance Mars rover has successfully retrieved its first rock drill sample for return to Earth. Taken by the Mastcam-Z, the image shows a drill bit holding a pencil-thick core in the sample tube.

An international team of scientists has calculated that a crewed mission to Mars should only last a maximum of four years if the astronauts' health isn't to be endangered by prolonged exposure to cosmic radiation.

Astronomers have spotted a new type of supernova for the first time. An unlucky star seems to have prematurely exploded after colliding with an extremely dense object, perhaps a black hole or a neutron star, creating a unique signature in the sky.

A space-debris-clearing drag sail developed by Purdue engineers called Spinnaker3 that is large enough to pull a spent rocket booster out of a 400-mile orbit to safely burn up in the Earth's atmosphere will be put to the test next month.