Spacecraft

Exorbitant launch costs and daunting engineering challenges make the dream of space-
based solar power look dicey for the space agency

The next year of science for the James Webb Space Telescope has been selected. It includes remote galaxy observations and, at last, a hunt for exomoons

Rotating detonation engines developed by NASA and others could spark a rocketry revolution

A former government official calls for investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena without succumbing to conspiracy theories about extraterrestrials

The subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa may have far less oxygen—and less potential for life—than previously believed, according to data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft

We should return samples from Mars to answer fundamental scientific
questions. That could mean stretching out the mission to keep NASA’s
other projects intact

Some of the faintest objects ever observed suggest that small galaxies were responsible for clearing the “fog” pervading the early cosmos

Eris and Makemake—two icy worlds beyond the orbit of Pluto—have seemingly fresh methane on their surface, a sign of unexpectedly hot interiors

New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope are exposing the pathways that water takes to reach terrestrial planets

Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission is the first U.S. soft landing on the moon since Apollo 17. It’s also a sign of private industry’s growing role in space

Scientists have finally found the compact object at the heart of the famous supernova of 1987, and it’s not a black hole

A lunar lander nicknamed Odie carries 125 small moon sculptures by artist Jeff Koons that could become the first authorized artwork on the moon