Incredible Technology

At the center of space exploration beats a heart of incredible technological marvels and innovation that inspires scientists and engineers to reach for the stars. See some of the wildest space tech concepts here, as well as technologies needed to ensure humanity's expansion across the solar system.

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This rendering shows the first-place winning concept "Venus Feelers" by Youssef Ghali from Cairo, Egypt.

Steampunk Venus rover ideas win NASA contest to 'explore hell' with clockwork robots

By Elizabeth Howell

A future Venus rover could be decked out with steampunk-esque rollers and fenders.

NASA has announced the winner for its "Honey, I Shrunk the NASA Payload" contests for tiny moon tech.

Miniature moon tech wins big with NASA challenge

By Chelsea Gohd

Future moon missions might be miniature, as NASA names the winner of a big new challenge.

An engineer observes a test of the Mars Helicopter Delivery System at Lockheed Martin Space in Denver in April 2019.

The 1st-ever Mars helicopter will start flying next year. Here's how.

By Elizabeth Howell

NASA's Perseverance rover will have a special passenger when it alights inside Mars' Jezero Crater in February 2021 — the first helicopter ever to fly on another world.

An artist's depiction of the Iris rover on the moon.

Tiny, simple moon rovers will bring cubesat science to the lunar surface

By Meghan Bartels

Cubesats have revolutionized orbital science, and a rover counterpart may soon do the same for surface science, beginning on the moon.

An artist's depiction of a SPARROW robot, at right, and its lander, on the surface of an icy solar system moon.

Steampunk space exploration? Icy moon robot could hop around on steam power.

By Elizabeth Howell

Icy moon explorers may someday hunt for life using an old-fashioned method: steam power.

How will astronauts poop on the moon? New NASA challenge aims to flush this mystery

By Chelsea Gohd

This is one crappy challenge.

NASA's new Sunset Simulator reveals what a sunset would look like on Uranus and other worlds.

See a sunset on Uranus, other worlds (and a moon, too) in this NASA simulator

By Chelsea Gohd

If you watched the sun set on Uranus, the sky would start off as a brilliant blue and fade into deeper blues with striking turquoise notes. So how do we know that?

Artist's illustration of StartRocket's planned Foam Debris Catcher extruding junk-snagging foam.

Foam 'spider webs' from tiny satellites could help clean up space junk

By Mike Wall

The Russian startup StartRocket is developing a "Foam Debris Catcher," a small, autonomous satellite that would snag and de-orbit space debris using sticky polymer foam.

Boeing software engineer Connie Miller tries out a Varjo virtual reality headset, which astronauts that ride on Boeing's Starliner capsule will use to train for their missions.

Virtual reality will be a big part of Boeing's Starliner astronaut training

By Mike Wall

Astronauts will get some next-gen training before they ride Boeing's next-gen spacecraft.

A Boeing image shows the X-37B in its capsule before launch.

Why a microwave-beam experiment will launch aboard the Air Force’s secretive X-37B space plane

By Rafi Letzter

There's a microwave power experiment heading to space Saturday (May 16) aboard the Air Force's secretive X-37B spaceplane. Researchers hope it could lead to a new global power source.

Built with multifunctional appendages able to spin wheels that can also be wiggled and lifted, this mini rover was modeled on the design of NASA’s Resource Prospector 15 prototype. The colorful little robot was used in the laboratory to develop and test complex locomotion techniques robust enough to help it climb hills composed of granular material, here ordinary beach sand.

Future Mars and moon rovers may paddle their way out of sand traps

By Mike Wall

Researchers recently took a new look at novel locomotory strategies developed for a NASA moon-exploration project, and the results were encouraging.

Diagram of a proposed network of solar-sailing "statite" craft, which would look for interstellar objects zooming through the solar system and potentially allow up-close study of such visitors.

Solar-sailing sentries could allow up-close study of interstellar visitors like 'Oumuamua

By Mike Wall

A fleet of solar-sailing sentries stationed far from the sun could someday allow scientists to get up-close looks at interstellar visitors like the mysterious 'Oumuamua.

An artist's depiction of satellites orbiting Earth.

Get out of the way: The 1st restartable solid rocket fuel could help reduce space junk (op-ed)

By Nicholas Dallmann

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory recently developed and demonstrated the ability to stop and restart solid rocket motors many times — something that has never been done before.

Some of the dozens of engineers involved in creating a ventilator prototype specially targeted to coronavirus disease patients at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

NASA engineers build new COVID-19 ventilator in 37 days

By Mike Wall

A prototype ventilator built in just 37 days by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory passed a key test this week at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.