Space Exploration

A new lightweight material that heals itself when punctured could help spacecraft survive run-ins with debris. Christopher Intagliata reports

NASA's New Horizons team decide on their next target, a classical Kuiper Belt object that can be reached by January 2019, but the agency must still approve funds for this extended science mission

A Harvard professor devises a scheme to detect extraterrestrials by tracking how they might commute from one world to the next

NASA's Curiosity rover provides a beautiful, scientifically appetizing view of what's ahead on Mount Sharp on Mars

The spacecraft makes one last close flyby of Saturn's pockmarked moon Dione August 17, in search of direct evidence that the moon is geologically alive and active

Campaigns to name exoplanets seem like Shakespearean farce

After more than a year in orbit around a comet, the European Rosetta spacecraft and its icy dance partner are hitting a huge milestone: their closest approach to the sun

The Perseids are the most widely observed and dependable annual meteor display of the year

How “spacecoaches” could revolutionize interplanetary travel

China, Russia and the U.S. are developing and testing controversial new capabilities to wage war in space despite their denial of such work

Discovering the first true “alien Earth” is a long-held dream of astronomers. Recent exoplanet discoveries suggest that their dream will come true in the not-too-distant future

The mysterious gunk on Jupiter’s moon may be sea salt