Pluto's Barnacled Beauty
Early images from New Horizons' encounter with Pluto reveal an extraordinary surface of strange mountains and varying deposits of light and dark material
"spacecraft"
![NASA's 50 Years of Mars Exploration [Video]](/blogs/cache/file/25E79892-D832-4B5B-B723D390B47D661F_small.jpg)
NASA's 50 Years of Mars Exploration [Video]
Humans have been visiting and exploring Mars for more than half a century, and NASA has released a video celebrating the agency's remarkable contributions
Juno llega a Júpiter
Después de lograr encender su motor –hazaña sobre la cual dependía su vida–, la segunda nave espacial en orbitar Júpiter se prepara para revolucionar nuestra visión del planeta gigante.
El plan de la NASA de visitar un asteroide carece de norte fijo
La principal misión para la próxima década del programa de vuelos espaciales humanos de Estados Unidos puede terminar antes de siquiera comenzar.
Fotos captadas por la nave Dawn revelan "pistas de hielo" en Ceres
Las manchas brillantes que aparecen en las últimas fotos de la misión de la NASA al planeta enano pueden ser agua helada, dicen los investigadores.
La misión Kepler descubre un casi gemelo de la Tierra que orbita una estrella similar al Sol
El planeta, Kepler-452b, es probablemente rocoso y orbita en la zona habitable de su estrella, donde podría existir agua líquida.
La NASA elige a una roca como el próximo destino de sus astronautas
La polémica Misión de Redirección de Asteroide de la agencia espacial ya no busca reorientar un asteroide hacia la órbita lunar alta.
![Teenage Robotics Engineers Unleash Their Creations in "Lunacy" Battles [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/78C2A7A4-5005-4E1E-A617C854375FC638_small.jpg)
Teenage Robotics Engineers Unleash Their Creations in "Lunacy" Battles [Slide Show]
With the national championship robotics competition less than a month away, 66 teams of young engineers have their bots throw down in New York City
Radioactive Robot: The Machines That Cleaned Up Three Mile Island
Robots cleaned up what humans could not because of radioactive contamination after the worst nuclear accident in the nation's history 30 years ago
Don't Fence Me In: Researchers Devise Bio-Boundary for African Wild Dogs
Africa's second-most endangered predator breaks out of the reserves created to protect it. Now, biologists are finding that it's own urine can be used to contain it
Underwater Rover Searches the Ocean Floor for Signs of Climate Change
Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute sent an aquatic robot on a test run deep below the Pacific Ocean this summer
![10 Views of Earth from the Moon, Mars and Beyond [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/CE2DFAB9-FF97-4ACD-921921C73F0ED256_small.jpg)
10 Views of Earth from the Moon, Mars and Beyond [Slide Show]
For more than 40 years, missions throughout the solar system have sent back stunning images of our home planet
![Comet-Chasing Rosetta Spacecraft Gets an Up-Close Look at Asteroid Lutetia [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/23F9B8BF-07A7-48E4-ACC8D2AE589DB02F_small.jpg)
Comet-Chasing Rosetta Spacecraft Gets an Up-Close Look at Asteroid Lutetia [Slide Show]
The Rosetta spacecraft got a good look at the large, main-belt asteroid during a July flyby
![A Wet Run for a Dry Planet: NASA Tests Drilling Technology in the Desert with Mars Sample Return in Mind [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/0B1C6838-2D04-4373-991FF42EE054138C_small.jpg)
A Wet Run for a Dry Planet: NASA Tests Drilling Technology in the Desert with Mars Sample Return in Mind [Slide Show]
Despite a gummed up drill bit and three days of very un-Martian precipitation, engineers pronounced the test a success--and learned to expect the unexpected, whether it be in the California outback or on Mars
![Solar Holler: Satellite Network Preps to Help Predict Stormy Space Weather [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/5AB8C57D-0DA6-47CB-987FF98767775010_small.jpg)
Solar Holler: Satellite Network Preps to Help Predict Stormy Space Weather [Slide Show]
Scientists hope that real-time information about potential solar disturbances can be used to warn those relying on operations in the increasingly crowded low Earth orbit
![Affordable Orbital: Tiny Satellites Make for Democratic Access to Space [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/E0DC8E1C-FADD-476D-96F86CF9430739A2_small.jpg)
Affordable Orbital: Tiny Satellites Make for Democratic Access to Space [Slide Show]
Low-cost spacecraft called CubeSats are helping bring open-source, DIY culture to spaceflight
![<i>Endeavour</i>'s Final Launch, in Pictures [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/907C0E96-EA7B-4787-8C01336DF46ACD8B_small.jpg)
Endeavour's Final Launch, in Pictures [Slide Show]
Space shuttle Endeavour, the replacement for the doomed Challenger, set off on its final mission May 16
![Journey to a Giant World: Launch Shots of the Juno Mission to Jupiter [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/26AB78DE-C340-4E07-944FB97D8E69D533_small.jpg)
Journey to a Giant World: Launch Shots of the Juno Mission to Jupiter [Slide Show]
Missed watching the NASA's Juno spacecraft embark for the solar system's largest planet? Here are some photos of the liftoff
![Space Shuttle Swan Songs: <i>Enterprise</i> and <i>Discovery</i> Fly their Final Missions [Slide Show]](/sciam/cache/file/26E7F80A-8BB5-4ECD-8BFB8F878D890D08_small.jpg)
Space Shuttle Swan Songs: Enterprise and Discovery Fly their Final Missions [Slide Show]
Washington, D.C. and New York City greet the retiring shuttles
Using Causality to Solve the Puzzle of Quantum Spacetime
A new approach to the decades-old problem of quantum gravity goes back to basics and shows how the building blocks of space and time pull themselves together
