Latest articles by Andrew Jones
New chronology, data about the moon's far side and a homegrown cartographic standard signal China's ambitions for how the solar system gets mapped.
The Chinese commercial launch company Landspace is set for its second attempt to catch an orbital rocket. Liftoff, and landing, are targeted for next Monday (Aug. 10).
Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft returned spectacular images of a near-Earth asteroid following a super-close flyby on July 5, but heated debate was needed before teams signed off on the daring attempt.
The country's plans include spacecraft designed to detect asteroids coming from the direction of the sun, which has long been a space-rock blind spot.
Having already delivered samples of the asteroid Ryugu to Earth, Hayabusa2 will soon attempt one of the closest, riskiest space-rock flybys in spaceflight history.
China plans to add three new modules to Tiangong along with a co-orbiting space telescope, as the ISS heads for a Pacific splashdown.
The cancellation of Gateway and Mars Sample Return exposed just how dependent Europe's space ambitions are on U.S. decisions. ESA's director general says that has to change.
China's Shenzhou 23 astronaut mission launched Sunday (May 24) to relieve an overdue crew on the Tiangong space station.
China has named the three astronauts due to fly on the Shenzhou 23 mission on Sunday (May 24), including Hong Kong's first astronaut.
Two private companies are partnering up to establish a repeatable debris removal service for low Earth orbit, and they want to debut it in 2027.
After Artemis 2, NASA's moon return hinges on two unproven commercial landers, each of which faces major technical and timeline challenges.
The complex MMX mission aims to shed light on the origins of Mars' two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, bringing Phobos material back to Earth in 2031.
Astroscale's 2027 ISSA-J mission will mark the first attempt to inspect multiple spacecraft across different orbits in a single flight.
Europe's Hera spacecraft has completed a major deep-space maneuver, setting it on course to rendezvous late this year with the asteroid system targeted by NASA's DART mission back in 2022.
The European Space Agency is planning to buy a dedicated SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to send its astronauts to the International Space Station to boost their time and experience in space.
As moon missions accelerate, countries are working to define how to respond to emergencies and avoid interference between competing operations.
Zhang Lu matched Chen Dong's tally of six spacewalks as he and crewmate Wu Fei completed a seven-hour excursion outside China's space station.
A new study highlights the volcanic Rimae Bode region as a scientifically promising destination for China's first crewed moon landing mission, which the nation wants to achieve by 2030.
A new proposal suggests borrowing the "Conference of the Parties" model from climate diplomacy to update space law before orbital congestion and lunar competition escalate.
InterstellOr is already taking bookings for its planned suborbital flights and says it has attracted its first celebrity passenger, highlighting China's growing commercial space ambitions.
Ground-based observations suggest the former geostationary inspector satellite suffered a fragmentation event months after retirement, raising new concerns about debris in high Earth orbit.
Chinese researchers have completed a full end-to-end simulation of the Chinese Space Station Telescope's observing systems, offering a preview of how the powerful scope will survey the universe.
Lunar landers from Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic are gearing up for moon landing attempts in 2026 as the commercial exploration of deep space expands.
