Leonard David

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission will see a sample of an asteroid return to Earth on Sept. 24. Here's how the mission's head scientist feels about the chances of success.

Space debris is becoming a major issue for both private companies and space agencies. But estimates of how much troublesome litter is actually in orbit are daunting and tricky to make.

The first domestically produced moon probe in modern Russia history, Luna-25 was important in both political and scientific terms. The implications of its failure are likely to be considerable.

Russia reignited its moon exploration program today (Aug. 10), sending the Luna-25 lander toward Earth's nearest neighbor.

Mission scientists and engineers took on the tricky task of targeting a remote stretch of the Atlantic Ocean for the reentry of Europe's Aeolus satellite.

A number of entrepreneurial groups have shared their strategies to turn the moon into a hustle and bustle world of marketable services.

That ill-fated dive of the Titan submersible and loss of its deep ocean exploring occupants has sparked conversation and debate in the world of public space travel.

The chorus of voices calling for the U.S. government to spill the beans on possible alien visitation of Earth is louder than ever. But are we ready for such a revelation?

Recovery teams are gearing up for the Sept. 24 landing of OSIRIS-REx's asteroid sample in the Utah desert.

Luna-25, the first spacecraft from modern Russia to head for the moon, has arrived at Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country's far east ahead of a planned August 11 launch.

Over the 14 years since its launch, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has produced images and data proven that have transformed our understanding of the moon. But how much longer can the orbiter last?

Earlier this month, the MOXIE oxygen-making experiment on the Perseverance Mars rover achieved a major milestone.

Astronauts on NASA's Artemis moon missions might look for signs of life in shadowed polar craters — life that could have traveled with people from Earth.

While many missions aim to explore permanently shadowed regions on the moon for water ice, it must be asked how realistic it is to expect to find enough ice on the moon to support human habitation.

While ChatGPT + AI is a powerful tool that can augment new discoveries, it can't yet replace the human-driven process of synthesizing new information to generate new insights into science.

Astronomers are becoming increasingly concerned of being blinded by the light from an estimated 400,000 satellites planned for low Earth orbit in the coming years.

Researchers are working to determine where and at what depths extractable ice exists on Mars. Such deposits could allow humanity to get a foothold on the Red Planet.

Meet Anastasia Stepanova, a PhD student in space resources and a veteran of multiple missions here on Earth that simulate the conditions human crews would experience spaceflight.

Work is now underway to shape a new Mars helicopter design following the groundbreaking flights of NASA's robotic Ingenuity rotorcraft.

Scientists and space agencies are working to develop ways to mitigate the microgravity-induced changes to the human eye that astronauts experience while in space.

The Mars Sample Return mission is an ambitious endeavor that could see Martian geological specimens returned to Earth to search for signs of life on the Red Planet.

The object blasted out of the sky over the Yukon on Feb. 11 may have been an amateur radio pico balloon — specifically, a 33-inch-wide one called K9YO-15.

What do these sky-high visitations mean, if anything, to the UFO/UAP community? Are there any lessons to be learned from these incidents?

A new National Geographic docuseries by investigative journalist Leslie Kean aims to shed light on the modern UFO phenomenon.

Analysis of space junk that has fallen to Earth could help researchers design rockets and spacecraft that break up more completely during the reentry process.