European Spacecraft Attempts Mars Landing
With the Schiaparelli lander, Europe hopes to join the U.S. and Russia in successfully touching down on the Red Planet
Stories by Lee Billings
Project Blue Sets Sights on "Pale Blue Dots" around Alpha Centauri
A privately funded small space telescope could soon seek Earth-like planets around the sun’s nearest neighboring stars
Will Elon Musk Scuttle the Search for Life on Mars?
If there is life on the Red Planet—even just alien microbes clinging to existence in isolated refuges—any biological contamination we import from Earth could cause an ecological and scientific catastrophe
In the Dark about Dark Matter
Recent disappointments have physicists looking beyond WIMPs for dark matter particles
Physics Nobel Awarded for Breakthroughs in Exotic States of Matter
David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz share the 2016 Nobel Prize for work explaining the topological underpinnings of superconductivity and other strange phenomena
Watch the Action as Rosetta Crashes into a Comet
Follow the pioneering spacecraft’s final descent to the bizarre surface of the distant space traveler
How to See Proxima b
Astronomers are racing to get the first historic image of another possibly Earth-like planet. Here’s how they’ll do it
Water Bears' Super Survival Skills Give Up Secrets
A protein from microscopic creatures called tardigrades keeps their DNA protected—and could someday shield humans from radiation.
Astronomers Spy Shadowy Plumes around Europa
If confirmed, the icy Jovian moon’s eruptions could offer new pathways for exploring its subsurface ocean
![The Book That Predicted Proxima b [Excerpt]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/69390A4A-E33A-44D7-A3FED7B50D35F8A0_agenda.jpg?w=275&h=154&fit=crop)
The Book That Predicted Proxima b [Excerpt]
A science fiction novel published in 2013 pegged some of the most salient details for our nearest neighboring exoplanet
Physics Confronts Its Heart of Darkness
Cracks are showing in the dominant explanation for dark matter. Is there anything more plausible to replace it?
Have We Detected an Alien Signal? It's Highly Doubtful
A blip of energy picked up by a Russian radio telescope might have been nothing more than a satellite passing overhead—or even a software glitch
The Earth Next Door
Astronomers find an exoplanet that could be habitable—and it’s as close to us as it could possibly be
![Voyage to Bennu and Back with OSIRIS-REx [Video]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/CF14AF19-1E4E-44F4-8D846A72C68E9734_agenda.jpg?w=275&h=154&fit=crop)
Voyage to Bennu and Back with OSIRIS-REx [Video]
NASA’s first sample-return mission to an asteroid could be vital for understanding life’s origins and shaping its future
Great Red Spot Helps Explain Jupiter's Warm Upper Atmosphere
A thermal spike linked to the solar system’s largest storm explains weather on gas-giant planets
![Miniature Space Telescope Could Boost the Hunt for "Earth Proxima" [Video]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/E3EC5DD4-3FC5-44B5-94503492791436DB_agenda.jpg?w=275&h=154&fit=crop)
Miniature Space Telescope Could Boost the Hunt for "Earth Proxima" [Video]
A new film presents an innovative plan to image potentially habitable planets around our sun's closest stellar neighbor—Alpha Centauri
Is Mars Missing a Moon?
A new theory suggests the Red Planet once had a spectacular lunar system. Lee Billings reports.
Scientists Get to the Bottom of the Bright Spots on Ceres
New results from Dawn spacecraft fuel debate on whether the dwarf planet is a habitable oasis between Mars and Jupiter
Jupiter, Get Ready for Your Close-Up!
Juno, NASA’s new mission to Jupiter, reaches the giant planet on July 4, 2016. Among its many firsts, Juno will peer deeper than ever before beneath the Jovian clouds and will deliver the first interplanetary LEGO kit. Produced with support from Explore Scientific
A "Starshade" Could Help NASA Find Other Earths Decades Ahead of Schedule
A next-generation space telescope is in the works—but if it is to see potentially habitable planets, it will need to block out their suns
