Space News

Researchers have trained the Hubble Space Telescope on Europa repeatedly since Europa's geysers were first announced last year, in an attempt to confirm and characterize the plumes. But they've come up empty.

(Phys.org)--Hundreds of thousands of asteroids are known to orbit our Sun at distances ranging from near the Earth to beyond Saturn. The most widely known collection of asteroids, the "main belt," contains some of the la...

Here's a look at the top alien-planet discoveries of 2014, from the first potentially habitable Earth-size world to a staggering haul of 715 newly announced exoplanets.

Together, the space probes Dawn and New Horizons have been in flight for a collective 17 years. One remained close to home and the other departed to parts of the Solar System of which little is known. They now share a ye...

These are exciting days for the earthbound scientists who study Mars. Data from a NASA rover creeping across the red planet's surface is rewriting our understanding of Mars' geological history and offering tantalizing cl...

Faced with the job of carefully putting together the $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope, NASA and lead contractor Northrop Grumman are starting to run practice assembly tests using a "pathfinder" telescope.

It hard to think of a more influential modern planetary scientist than Carolyn Porco, the leader of the imaging team for NASA’s Cassini mission exploring Saturn. But before Cassini, Porco was involved in Voyager missio...

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features: A NASA-led study suggests that tropical forests absorb more carbon dioxide than scientists thought. That means, if left undisturbed, the tropical trees should be able t...

How much of the movie "Interstellar" is fiction, and how much is based in fact? Theoretical physicist Kip Thorne writes about his work keeping the science fiction epic within the realm of possibility.

In his new book "The Science of Interstellar" (W.W. Norton & Company, 2014), theoretical physicist Kip Thorne discusses his time working on the movie "Interstellar," and his mission to root the film in real science.

What can space fans look forward to next year? Closely watched spacecraft are expected to start pumping out science, while private spaceflight companies have a number of launches on the books for 2015.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: NASA has awarded a contract to Dvorak, LLC of Baltimore, Maryland, for the Wallops North Island Electrical Upgrade Project.

As we get ready to wrap up the year and the month, here’s an absolutely beautiful compilation of views of the aurora — or norðurljós as they are called in Icelandic — from the month of December 2014 in Iceland. �...

Researchers aim to set aside differences in search for life on distant worlds --

On Christmas Eve, as millions upon millions of people focused on wrapping gifts and getting ready for the holidays, an amateur astronomer gave a small gift to the world. The person turned a telescope and camera to Jupite...

Es'hailSat said its Es'hail 2 satellite, the company's first fully owned telecommunications spacecraft, would be launched in late 2016 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The post Es'HailSat Taps SpaceX for 2016 Launch appe...

Simulations suggest Venus could have once harbored seas of supercritical carbon dioxide --

While the world was enchanted with Chris Hadfield’s social media posts last year, a new video has the retired astronaut talking about loftier things. Say, for example, how humanity landed a camera on the Saturn moon Ti...

The fifth SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract now is scheduled to launch about 6:18 a.m. EST Tuesday, Jan. 6, from Space Launch Complex 40 at C...

From a distance, Saturn’s rings look like a sheer sheet, but peer up close and you can see that impression is a mistake. Shadows from rubble believed to be two miles (3.2 kilometers) high are throwing shadows upon the ...

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: NASA's Wind mission launched on Nov. 1, 1994, with the goal of characterizing the constant stream of particles from the sun called the solar wind.

The space agency continued their exploration mission with many scientific discoveries on Earth and beyond in 2014. They also announced plans and conducted tests for future missions.