China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission adjusts orbit to prepare for a Red Planet landing By Leonard David China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft fired its engines Monday (Feb. 15) to place it in a polar orbit around the Red Planet.
E.T. signal from Proxima Centauri? A conversation with Breakthrough Initiatives' Pete Worden By Leonard David Space.com recently talked with Breakthrough Initiatives executive director Pete Worden about a signal coming from the vicinity of Proxima Centauri, and about the search for alien life more generally.
Defending Earth against dangerous asteroids: Q&A with NASA's Lindley Johnson By Leonard David Space.com caught up with NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson to discuss recent events and what's on the planetary-defense agenda in the coming year.
China's Chang'e 5 moon samples are headed to the lab By Leonard David The Chang'e 5 return capsule carrying lunar samples is headed for a Beijing laboratory for opening, with a research team eagerly awaiting their chance to start studying the fresh moon specimens.
China plants its flag on the moon with Chang'e 5 lunar lander (photo, video) By Leonard David It's a fabric first for China.
Moon pit diver: This tiny rover could explore the lunar underworld By Leonard David New technologies could allow exploration of skylights, lava tubes and caverns on the moon — underground environments that human explorers may be able to exploit in the not-too-distant future.
Memorial spaceflight: Cremated remains flying to the moon on private lander in 2021 By Leonard David Among the many payloads that will fly to the moon aboard Astrobotic's robotic Peregrine lander next year are capsules containing DNA samples and symbolic portions of cremated remains.
Scientists call for serious study of 'unidentified aerial phenomena' By Leonard David There's a rising call for "unidentified aerial phenomena" to be studied scientifically, perhaps even using satellites to be on the lookout for possible future events.
China selects 18 new astronauts in preparation for space station launch By Leonard David Chinese has selected a third group of astronauts for the nation's coming space station, the China Manned Space Agency announced.
Tiny moonbound spacecraft have very big goals By Leonard David Four small spacecraft are being readied for moonbound treks to help quench a thirst for new data about lunar water ice.
Tiny cubesat launching next year to blaze trail for NASA moon-orbiting space station By Leonard David A high-tech pioneer for NASA's moon-orbiting Gateway space station is being readied for liftoff early next year.
Is Earth-moon space the US military's new high ground? By Leonard David U.S. military officials have increasingly flagged a new role in guarding American assets and interests in Earth-moon space.
4 Indian astronauts are training in Russia for future spaceflights By Leonard David Four Indian astronauts continue to train at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow as prospective space travelers for India's crewed Gaganyaan project.
Cold as (lunar) ice: Protecting the moon's polar regions from contamination By Leonard David Can humanity mine water ice at the moon's poles without compromising these regions' great scientific potential?
Tour China's 'Mars yard' for its Tianwen-1 rover mission (video) By Leonard David China has built a testing ground for its first Mars mission, Tianwen-1, which launched to the Red Planet in July and aims to land a rover on the surface in April 2021.
What does the Pentagon's new UFO task force mean? Experts weigh in. By Leonard David The Pentagon just announced the creation of a task force to analyze and understand the "nature and origins" of UFOs. Here's what the much-hyped news means.
Russia gearing up to launch moon mission in 2021 By Leonard David Russia's Luna-25 moon lander is starting to come together ahead of its planned launch next year.
China's Tianwen-1 Mars rover mission gets a boost from international partners By Leonard David China's bid to explore Mars involves several other nations for tracking, orbital relay of data and science instrument support.
NASA's inspector general raises questions with cost management of Orion spacecraft By Leonard David The OIG determined that Orion, the next-gen capsule that will carry NASA astronauts to the moon and other deep-space destinations, has continued to experience cost increases and schedule delays.
China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission rolls out to launch pad (photos, video) By Leonard David China's first fully homegrown Mars mission, Tianwen-1, rolled out to its launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province today (July 17).
How the coronavirus pandemic can help us prepare for an asteroid impact By Leonard David The emergency preparedness activities now underway to combat the coronavirus pandemic offer insight about our readiness to deal with a dangerous incoming asteroid, experts say.
Ready, SETI, go: Is there a race to contact E.T.? By Leonard David Researchers using China's huge new FAST radio telescope are piecing together a technological strategy to carry out a major and sweeping search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
How amateur satellite trackers are keeping an 'eye' on objects around the Earth By Leonard David Around the planet, a loosely knit but closely woven band of amateurs monitor the whereabouts of satellites — be they secretive spacecraft, rocket stages, orbital debris or lost space probes.
'PANOSETI' prototypes: Ambitious alien-hunting project deploys 1st two telescopes By Leonard David The first two prototype telescopes for the ambitious PANOSETI project are up and running.
China wants a piece of the moon. Here's how it plans to handle lunar samples. By Leonard David A glimpse into China's readiness to handle samples from the moon reveals steps to be taken for storage, processing and preparation of the specimens.
