Space Exploration

A new blood test for cancer, helpful cat parasites, and a new kind of wood in this week's news roundup.

A former space agency official argues that cutting a robotic explorer pulls the scientific teeth from the Artemis program

An ambitious U.S. government program is working to detect and track millions of tiny space junk pieces—down to the size of a sand grain—throughout low-Earth orbit and beyond

The VIPER lunar rover promised a revolution in our understanding of the moon’s precious deposits of ice. Then NASA cancelled the mission

SpaceX will supercharge its Dragon capsule to send the International Space Station to a watery retirement

Material from the moon’s far side collected by China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft could solve a long-standing lunar mystery

Astronauts still survive on freeze-dried meals. Could better food, aided by cooking gadgets designed to be used in microgravity, help them to thrive?

SpaceX has filed a request with the Federal Aviation Administration to determine whether the company can resume launches of its recently grounded workhorse rocket

Radiolab host Latif Nasser found and named a mysterious quasi-moon of Venus. Now you can help name one of Earth’s quasi-moons.

ESA’s Ramses spacecraft will scout out Apophis before and after the asteroid’s super-close flyby of Earth in 2029

It’s been 55 years since the Apollo 11 mission, innovative ​​“stillsuits” designed to recycle astronaut pee could enhance spacewalks, and a surprising case of the plague has occurred in Colorado.

A Saskatchewan farmer’s near miss with potentially lethal debris falling from orbit highlights the skyrocketing risks and murky politics of space junk