A traveller puts his head under the edge of the firmament in the original (1888) printing of the Flammarion wood engraving.
Back when Henk Hoekstra started his PhD, atmosphere turbulence and optical imperfections prevented us from accurately observing dark matter. He tells us why Euclid is a game changer.
Nasa/JPL-Caltech
New ideas will be key to making the mission happen after a report criticised its timescale and cost.
Perseverance rover taking a selfie on Mars.
Nasa
There’s anxiety among space scientists following Nasa’s decision to rethink sample return mission from Mars.
Eye safety is paramount when observing eclipses.
Aaron Bunch / EPA Images
A type of eclipse is crucial for measuring what’s in the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars.
Dream Chaser would ferry cargo, and eventually crew, to low-Earth orbit.
Ken Ulbrich / NASA
Spaceplanes seemed out of favour when the shuttle was retired in 2011; they now seem to be making a comeback.
The Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
Among the missions being planned is a huge helicopter drone to explore Saturn’s moon Titan.
NASA isn’t the only space agency with exciting missions to watch for in 2024.
AP Photo/John Raoux
Expect lots of space missions to launch this coming year, with exciting new science to follow.
Kilian Jornet pendant l'ultratrail du Mont Blanc en 2018: 170 kilomètres en altitude et dans des conditions météorologiques difficiles.
JEFF PACHOUD, AFP
Do extreme-sport athletes and explorers have personality traits in common that help them adapt to difficult and surprising conditions?
Nasa/GSFC
Missions to asteroids are opening up the secrets of the Solar System
With NASA planning more missions to space in the future, scientists are studying how to mitigate health hazards that come with space flight.
AP Photo/John Raoux
Space can damage everything from your cardiovascular and nervous systems to your mental health – long voyages can feel isolating for many.
The exoplanet K2-18b might host a water ocean.
Credits: Illustration: NASA, CSA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI), Science: N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)
The results are intriguing, but analysing the atmospheres of exoplanets is no easy task.
NASA
The Euclid mission is preparing to launch on July 1.
Jupiter has more than 80 moons, the largest of which were discovered by Galileo. Many will be studied in depth by the scientific instruments of ESA’s JUICE mission.
ESA, NASA, JPL, ATG, DLR, University of Arizona, University of Leicester
One of Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede, could contain more water than the Earth.
The surface of Europa – one of Jupiter’s moons – is a thick layer of solid ice.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer and Europa Clipper missions will arrive at Jupiter in the 2030s and provide researchers with unprecedented access to the icy moons orbiting the gas giant.
An artist’s impression of the 30,000 or so space debris orbiting around the Earth.
Flickr
How might the space industry reduce its ecological footprint and better manage the debris it leaves in its wake?
Syrian civil defence workers clear an earthquake victim in Zardana, Idlib province, on 6 February.
Abdulazis Ketaz/AFP
Using space imagery can help guide relief efforts to critical areas during a natural disaster.
Milky Way over sand dunes in Cervantes, Australia.
Nik Coli/Shutterstock
By spotting and counting tiny galaxies, we can work out how much dark matter is hiding in the cosmos.
NASA astronaut Winston E. Scott on an EVA in 1996.
NASA JSC
The European Space Agency has recruited the world’s first-ever disabled astronaut. But we’re still a long way from space being accessible to all.
Satellite imagery monitors environmental changes to inform agricultural decisions. Agricultural patterns are distinctly visible in this near-vertical false colour infrared photography of farmland south of Khartoum, Sudan.
(JSC/NASA)
Technologies being developed for growing food in space have contributed to advances in agriculture and crops on Earth.
Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way.
ESA/ATG medialab; background: ESO/S. Brunier
New data may settle dispute about the universe’s true expansion rate.