Solar system

A first look at materials from asteroid Bennu sparks speculation that the space rock was once part of an ancient, watery protoplanet

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is eliminating nearly 600 workers due to funding shortfalls for the space agency's Mars Sample Return mission

A surprisingly youthful ocean within Mimas, a tiny moon of Saturn, has big implications for the solar system’s history—and for finding life beyond Earth

We’re looking for another Earth. But how likely is it that we’ll find a duplicate of home?

The popular limit of a 100-kilometer altitude for the edge of space should probably be adjusted down to 80 km

After a nine-day shutdown, the upside-down lunar lander received enough sunlight to power up again

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna could discover gigantic ripples in spacetime from merging supermassive black holes and more

The edge of the world is closer than you think, and simple geometry proves it

After an unexpected communications dropout, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is back in business on Mars

Japan’s SLIM precision-landing spacecraft—a potential game-changer for upcoming lunar exploration—may expire on the moon before fulfilling its mission

Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, which endured a crippling postlaunch malfunction for longer than expected, could set a precedent for a coming wave of U.S. moon missions

If successful, the Artemis program promises to revolutionize travel to other celestial bodies. But many more tests of hardware remain