Space

Rocket Lab has unveiled its concept for a new reusable launch vehicle called Neutron. Looking like something a Bond villain would deploy, it carries its second stage inside a permanently attached captive “Hungry Hippo” fairing design.

NASA has monitored potentially hazardous asteroids for decades, but some factors couldn't be accounted for. The new Sentry-II system has now gone online, allowing astronomers to calculate the orbits and impact chances of asteroids far more precisely.

By conducting "flybys" of Phobos when it wasn't actually there, ESA's Mars Express orbiter provided researchers with a controlled experiment to learn more about the mysterious, intermittent interaction between the Martian moon and solar winds.

As part of a month-long series of real-world and virtual events showcasing upcoming technology, Nissan has revealed a lunar rover prototype it's currently working on with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Accounting for where all of the Earth's water came from is a longstanding puzzle, but an international team of scientists led by the University of Glasgow has proposed that the Sun may be a major source of our planet's H₂O.

Astronomers have discovered the closest known pair of supermassive black holes – and that record has two meanings. Not only are they the closest pair to Earth, but they’re the closest to each other as well, heading for an eventual monster merger.

After years of setbacks, the James Webb Space Telescope will finally launch next month. NASA has given the green light to begin fueling the observatory for launch, after engineering teams found no sign of damage from an incident last week.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has set a new pair of records after it survived its 10th close encounter with the Sun, coming within 5.3 million miles of the surface and reaching a speed of 363,660 mph, making it the fastest-ever artificial object.

Astronomers have spotted two “invisible” galaxies hiding near the dawn of the universe. The team used radio waves to peer behind a curtain of dust, and the find suggests that there were far more galaxies in the early universe than previously thought.

A UK company with lofty aspirations around sustainable space travel has test-fired a rocket engine powered in part by plastic waste. Pulsar Fusion's ambitious plans also involve the development of nuclear fusion technology for high-speed propulsion.

NASA has launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission to demonstrate a way to deflect potentially dangerous asteroids. The robotic probe lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket and is set to intercept its target in late September 2022.

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has suffered yet another delay – but at least this time, it’s only a few days. NASA says that additional testing of the instrument now needs to be conducted after an incident during launch preparations.