Space

mars' surface with the left side of the image toned yellow and the right side blue

Astronomy

NASA shares colorful “postcard” of Mars’ surface

NASA has used photos taken by the Curiosity rover to create a gorgeous “postcard” of the Martian landscape.

Kristin Houser

a crowd of young people with their backs to the camera watching a rocket fly through the air in the distance

Aerospace

Students build reusable rocket, win $5,000 from NASA

The University of Alabama in Huntsville has won Student Launch 2023, NASA’s annual rocket-building competition.

Kristin Houser

an illustration of a capsule reentering Earth's atmosphere

Aerospace

SpaceX successfully launches world’s first “space factory”

SpaceX has successfully deployed a “space factory” developed by startup Varda Space Industries to manufacture drugs in microgravity.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

This 93-million mile deep space mission might catch the next super solar storm

A newly funded satellite mission could help us keep a watchful eye on the sun’s activity, buying us more time to prepare for a potential solar storm.

Tien Nguyen

Aerospace

Want to visit the moon? NASA is accepting astronaut applications

NASA has announced plans to begin accepting applications for its next class of Astronaut Candidates, some of whom may go on to visit the moon or even Mars.

Kristin Houser

Series| Guardians of the Apocalypse

NASA’s plan to stop an asteroid headed for Earth

8:02

In 2013, a small meteor exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia that sent over 1,200 people to the hospital. Now, NASA has plans to detect Earth-bound asteroids and defend the planet from another large-scale catastrophe.

Outer Space

Closer to the Sun: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe

NASA is getting closer to the sun than ever before with the Parker Solar Probe, leaving researchers excited and bewildered by the data they saw.

B. David Zarley

Extraterrestrials

Is anybody out there?

New breakthroughs in the technology used for exoplanet discovery mean we could find proof for the existence of extraterrestrials in our lifetime.

B. David Zarley

Series| Through the Looking Glass

AR in use: NASA's Dragonfly mission to Titan

3:46

With a keen curiosity to learn more about how life formed on Earth, NASA has plans to send a spacecraft called the Dragonfly to Saturn’s largest moon, and they’re using augmented reality to make it happen.

Robotics

The construction robots building space colonies

Sending construction robots into outer space will help pave the way for human exploration, but there are some real challenges that lie ahead.

Tien Nguyen

Astronomy

What is inside a black hole?

6:15

In partnership with John Templeton Foundation

Rendering the first black hole image was an important milestone. But in many ways, the true value of the project lies in how it created an opportunity for researchers to change the way they explore the world.

Extraterrestrials

How to talk to aliens

Let's imagine aliens exist. You have the extraordinary task of crafting a message that they might conceivably understand. How would you do it? And what would you say? Daniel Oberhaus has a few ideas.

Tien Nguyen

How NASA’s space food lab will feed the farthest journey in history

5:53

These food scientists are making it possible for us to explore space in ways we haven’t yet as a species.

Sections

Series & Columns

Freethink

We focus on solutions: the smartest people, the biggest ideas, and the most ground breaking technology shaping our future.