Stories by Leonard David

Lisa Pratt, the space agency’s new planetary protection officer, could soon oversee major shifts in regulations on public- and private-sector space missions

Wind turbines could produce significant amounts of electricity for robots exploring the Red Planet’s surface

The Queqiao orbiter will serve as a vital communications relay between the Earth and future lunar landers—and perform some science, too

Now might be the best time to study unexamined caches of lunar material from the Apollo missions

Despite decades of Red Planet exploration, the protocols for confirming evidence of life there are still quite hazy

After almost a half-century hiatus, lunar missions are once again becoming the next big thing in space science and exploration

Backers of NASA’s next great observatory contemplate its worst-case scenarios

With economic activity poised to surge in space, scientists are reexamining how rockets might harm Earth’s atmosphere

The InSight mission will take the planet’s temperature—and help prepare for eventual human exploration

The Chang’e 5 spacecraft could return invaluable new moon rocks to Earth, but who will get to study them?

The agency's next Mars rover will cache samples for return to Earth, but how and when they will be delivered remains undecided

Data from an Indian lunar orbiter hints at substantial water in the lunar interior

A boom in nanosatellites could revolutionize space science and industry, but also dramatically increase the hazards of space junk

The space agency does not have a replacement in the works to take over their vital role of relaying communications

Astrobiologists ponder sending gene sequencers, weather stations, drilling rigs and more to the Red Planet

Nearly a half-century after humans voyaged to the moon, NASA and private U.S. companies are once again setting their sights beyond low Earth orbit

After more than a decade of controversy, the debate over the icy world’s demotion to “dwarf planet” status shows no sign of stopping

After intense debate, planetary scientists have selected three finalist landing sites for an ambitious U.S. mission that will set the course for future Mars exploration

A new report details problems that could push the Mars 2020 rover over-budget and behind schedule

Work is underway to establish the world's first private, international commercial space station

The Office of Science and Technology Policy has released a new plan for protecting Earth from hazardous space rocks

The Chinese space agency launched a new space lab, sent up its longest crewed mission ever and tested out powerful new rockets

In the waning days of his administration, the president has been paying unusual attention to space, recently highlighting his accomplishments and further goals for exploration of the solar system

Challenges facing Elon Musk’s project include getting return-trip fuel from Martian resources