Space Exploration

Space Exploration

A spacecraft with bright engine exhaust approaches Mars, depicted with its reddish surface and a large crater visible.
"Think of it like a transcontinental railroad — not the fastest way to move a lot of mass, but certainly the most efficient,” Jared Isaacman said about nuclear electric propulsion.
From here on Earth, looking farther away in space means looking farther back in time. So what are distant Earth-watchers seeing right now?
An astronaut stands proudly on the moon's surface near scientific equipment and a lunar lander, as the American flag waves in the background, symbolizing a pioneering USA nation.
As October begins, thousands of longtime NASA employees are leaving the agency. 4000+ will exit by January 9, 2026, changing NASA forever.
Two large Martian rocks with circular drill holes and light-colored dust are shown on a sandy, rocky surface. Part of a rover’s equipment, searching for traces of organics or signs of Mars life, is visible at the bottom of the image.
The red planet, Mars, may once have been teeming with life, just as Earth is today. Finding "organics" on Mars, however, doesn't mean life.
A dense star field with dark, irregular dust clouds—where cosmic dust come from—obscures parts of the glowing stars in the Milky Way.
Dust is ubiquitous in the modern Universe, appearing in nearly all galaxies. But our cosmos was born dust-free. So where does it originate?
A drawing of a group of people soaring in a plane, embodying cosmism.
In revolutionary Russia, a group of forward-thinking philosophers offered an alternative to both futurism and communism.
An artist's rendering of the nasa jupiter spacecraft.
The Juno spacecraft, orbiting and imaging Jupiter since 2016, is still succeeding. Without a further extension, the mission now faces death.
As we look to larger cosmic scales, we get a broader view of the expansive cosmic forest, eventually revealing the grandest views of all.
A man in a suit sits in front of a large NASA logo sign, symbolizing the determination to defy charter limits and push the boundaries of space exploration.
NASA's 1958 charter's top priority was, "the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space." Is this how it ends?
A hexagonal telescope with a gold exterior and an open, black interior is shown against a black background, highlighting NASA habitable worlds observatory science.
At the end of July, hundreds of scientists convened to plan NASA's upcoming astrophysics flagship mission. Will the US allow it to happen?
every square degree
When the Hubble Space Telescope first launched in 1990, there was so much we didn't know. Here's how far we've come.