Space Exploration

NASA Ames researcher, former astronaut muse on the challenges and advantages of spending time on the high-gravity planet

Astronomers astounded by the dwarf planet's active geology and atmosphere

The announcement of a newly confirmed exoplanet in Kepler data within its star's "habitable zone" is great news, but also reinforces some misconceptions about what an Earth-like world means.

The planet, Kepler 452 b, is likely rocky and orbits in its star’s habitable zone where liquid water can exist

Early images from New Horizons' encounter with Pluto reveal an extraordinary surface of strange mountains and varying deposits of light and dark material

With a $100-million donation, billionaire Yuri Milner plans to revolutionize the astronomical quest to find alien life

“Sputnik Planum” region is a vast stretch of icy plains whose surface is broken into cell-like polygon blocks by snaking troughs

Entrepreneur and former physicist Yuri Milner talks about the just-announced $100-million Breakthrough Listen Project to search for extraterrestrial technological civilizations

China’s current rank of eighth in the space race is misleading. The nation’s engineers are drawing up plans for a moon-capable rocket more powerful than the U.S.’s Saturn 5

Lack of impact craters suggests the dwarf planet may be geologically active

NASA chooses astronauts to fly on commercial missions

New Horizons mission members have worked on the project for longer than it took the spacecraft to get to Pluto