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Photographs taken by MarCO-B as it approached Mars in November 2018.

RIP, MarCO! The world's first cubesats to Mars are gone for good

By Meghan Bartels

In September 2019, NASA started the second half of an epic game of Marco Polo; early this month the agency declared it over for good.

The Earth is a stunning backdrop to the Intelsat 901 communications satellite in this view from the MEV-1 satellite serving spacecraft during docking operations on Feb. 25, 2020.

Two private satellites just docked in space in historic first for orbital servicing

By Elizabeth Howell

In a historic first for satellite operations, one spacecraft "helper" docked with a working satellite to provide life-extension services.

Spaceflight

The night sky above the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Paranal Observatory in Chile is ablaze with vibrant airglow in this gorgeous view by astrophotographer Yuri Beletsky. This colorful phenomenon happens because atoms and molecules in Earth's atmosphere interact and emit radiation. For this reason, the sky is never completely dark. Airglow is only visible in places that are far enough from human-made light pollution, like the Paranal Observatory. This image was captured from ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), and in the distance you can barely see the Very Large Telescope (VLT), which sits on top of Cerro Paranal.

Space photos: The most amazing images this week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

Here are our picks for the most amazing space photos of the week.

Boeing engineers examine the Starliner spacecraft that flew on the Orbital Flight Test mission in December 2019.

Boeing defends Starliner space capsule ground tests after problematic debut flight

By Hanneke Weitering

Science & Astronomy

Physicist Freeman J. Dyson at The Church Center for the United Nations in New York on March 22, 2000.

Freeman Dyson, quantum physicist who imagined alien megastructures, has died at 96

By Rafi Letzter

Physicist Freeman Dyson was known for his work on quantum physics and mathematics, as well as his big ideas about the far future.

The top space stories of the week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

These are the top space stories this week from Space.com.

Search For Life

Jupiter's moon Europa, imaged here by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, harbors a huge ocean beneath its icy shell.

Alien-life hunters are eyeing icy ocean moons Europa and Enceladus

By Mike Wall

As the hunt for life on Mars starts getting into full swing, some scientists are already looking beyond the Red Planet, to our solar system's next astrobiological frontier.

The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Astrogeology Science Center has released the locations of more than 1,000 cave-entrance candidates on Mars. The dots indicate the location of possible caves in the Tharsis region on Mars.

Scientists eye the Martian underground in search for alien life

By Leonard David

While the cold, dry, radiation-blasted surface of Mars is widely considered to be uninhabitable, the subsurface may be a very different story.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this view of the interstellar object Comet 2I/Borisov on Oct. 12, 2019.

SETI search of interstellar Comet Borisov finds no sign of alien 'technosignatures'

By Mike Wall

The Breakthrough Listen SETI project has scanned the interstellar Comet Borisov for "technosignatures" but come up empty so far.

Skywatching

Venus and the moon will make a close approach in the evening sky on Feb. 27, 2020. The pair will be in conjunction, meaning they will be at the same celestial longitude, at 6:51 a.m. EST (1151 GMT). For skywatchers in the U.S., Venus and the moon will be below the horizon at the time of conjunction, but they will become visible in the evening as dusk fades.

How to see Venus shining with the moon tonight

By Joe Rao

Tonight (Feb. 27), as darkness is falling, be sure to look toward the west-southwest sky to spot another beautiful celestial tableau formed by a lovely crescent moon and the brilliant planet Venus.

Canis Major and Canis Minor are visible in the south-southwest after sunset.

How to spot Canis Major, the big dog of winter

By Joe Rao

The constellation of Canis Major is visible in the winter sky this month.

A cityscape view captured from the highest point of Lisbon shows a single shot of the first full moon and penumbral lunar eclipse of the year, rising against the anti-twilight arch above the capital of Portugal, on Jan. 10, 2020. The Tagus River is visible in the background.

Full moon and the 'Belt of Venus' glow over Lisbon during 1st eclipse of 2020 (photo)

By Miguel Claro

A cityscape view captured from the highest point of Lisbon shows the first full moon of the year, rising above the capital of Portugal on Jan. 10, with the Tagus River visible in the background.

Entertainment

Everyone needs a friend like La Sirena's Captain Rios. Men want to be like him, women want to be with him.

'Star Trek: Picard' beams up its best yet in episode 6

By Scott Snowden

Strap yourselves in as "Star Trek: Picard" accelerates from impulse drive to warp factor four with the longest episode yet – and the best we've seen so far.

"Star Wars" is launching a new storytelling initiative dubbed "Star Wars: The High Republic."

'Star Wars: The High Republic' revealed: New books will introduce a bygone Jedi era

By Elizabeth Howell

"Star Wars" is starting an epic "storytelling initiative" to fill out the history of the franchise some 200 years before the events of the 1999 movie "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace."

Baby Yoda toys from 'Star Wars' will launch an unstoppable campaign of cuteness this year

By Kasandra Brabaw

Fans of Disney's hit series "The Mandalorian" will be thrilled to see dozens of products inspired by "The Child" (better known as Baby Yoda) in stores this year.

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