Space

Explosions get you much more bang from your fuel buck than combustion – if your engine can withstand them. NASA believes the rotating detonation engine could be the future of deep space travel, and it's getting strong results in prototype testing.

NASA and DARPA have agreed to develop and test a nuclear rocket engine in space as soon as 2027. Using a nuclear reactor as its power source, it would outperform chemical rockets and greatly reduce the time for the first crewed Mars mission.

Astronomers have released one of the biggest data dumps of the Milky Way ever, cataloging an incredible 3.32 billion cosmic objects in detail. The end result is a gigantic image that can be zoomed in and out for a stunning sense of scale.

In a move that could see a new generation of deep-space CubeSats, NASA has greenlighted a project by the Rochester Institute of Technology to develop a nuclear power source that is a tenth the size of those in current use for planetary missions.

Models of the universe predict that supernova remnants should be far more common than they are. Now, a new image from sensitive radio telescopes reveal that the missing remnants are hiding in plain sight.

The James Webb Space Telescope has been used to confirm the existence of an exoplanet for the first time. Known as LHS 475 b, this Earth-sized world is a cosmic stone’s-throw away and is likely the first of many planet discoveries by Webb.

The mystery of why the first orbital mission launched from the UK fell into the sea on January 9 had some light shed on it today as Virgin Orbital announced that telemetry indicated that the second stage engine shut down prematurely.

What was once thought to be just one star is actually two. What's more, the two stars are so close that they've broken a record for being the tightest ultracool binary system ever observed, revolving around each other in less than an Earth day.

The universe is full of bizarre objects, and now astronomers have discovered a doozy – superheavy neutron stars that existed for only fractions of a second, before they collapsed into black holes.

The intriguing cosmic mystery of fast radio bursts (FRBs) has now shed light (pun intended) on another mystery. By studying the signature of an FRB from a nearby galaxy, astronomers have found that the Milky Way has far less matter than expected.

Britain's attempt to launch its first orbital rocket in over half a century and the first from UK soil failed today as the second stage of the mission's Virgin Orbit rocket malfunctioned due to an undisclosed problem.

The James Webb Space Telescope is probing greater depths of space and time than other observatories. Now it's discovered galaxies with a structure like our own Milky Way 11 billion light-years away, challenging our understanding of galaxy formation.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered opal on Mars. The deposits may prove to be valuable to future Martian explorers not as jewelry but as a potential source of water.

In 2022, decades of work finally came to fruition as the James Webb Space Telescope focused its powerful eyes on the universe. From distant galaxies to our nearby neighbors, let’s look back at some of the most impressive images captured so far.

With beginnings, endings, and new discoveries, space was a busy place in 2022. New Atlas looks back at the best space stories of the past 12 months, from those set relatively close to home, to others much, much farther afield.