Taking a major step toward an eventual robotic mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, NASA has selected nine sophisticated instruments for a solar-powered spacecraft designed to find out whether the hidden realm could support life of some sort, agency officials said Tuesday.
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NASA's hardy Messenger spacecraft, out of fuel at the end of a remarkably successful 11-year mission, ended its life with a bang Thursday, smashing into the hellish surface of Mercury at some 8,750 miles per hour and blasting out a new crater in the process.
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New photos and animations of Pluto and its large moon Charon taken by the fast-approaching New Horizons probe are revealing distinct surface features for the first time, including a bright area that could be a snowy polar cap, mission managers said Wednesday.
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A quarter of a century since its launch in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope is operating in near flawless fashion, and engineers are optimistic the observatory will remain on the forefront of astronomy at least through 2020 -- its 30th anniversary -- if not beyond.
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A dramatic new photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to mark the observatory's 25th anniversary shows a cluster of hot young stars shining in the heart of a nursery-like nebula some 20,000 light years from Earth. Read More...

Repairing the Hubble Space Telescope’s famously flawed vision required ingenuity and perseverance. But in the end, the herculean effort paid off, lifting Hubble from the ashes of failure to the pinnacle of scientific success. Read More...

Twenty-five years after launch, the Hubble Space Telescope remains at the forefront of modern astronomy, an unrivaled discovery machine and cultural icon with rock star status in the world of Big Science. Read More...

A workhorse Soyuz booster thundered to life and climbed into a dark Kazakh sky Friday, carrying NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko on a four-orbit voyage to the International Space Station to kick off a marathon 342-day mission, the longest flight ever attempted by an American.
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Shuttle veteran Scott Kelly first heard about NASA's plans to send an astronaut to the International Space Station for nearly a full year shortly after he completed his third space flight in 2011, a 159-day stay aboard the orbital lab complex.
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After an extended review, NASA has opted to forego capturing a small asteroid as an interim step on the road to sending astronauts to Mars. Instead, the agency will focus on robotically plucking a sizable boulder from the surface of an asteroid and returning it to the vicinity of the moon. Read More...

NASA launched four satellites in a $1.1 billion mission to study the high-speed interactions between Earth's magnetic field and the sun's to learn more about the mechanisms responsible for the titanic energy discharges that drive auroras and play havoc with satellite navigation, communications and power grids.
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, monitoring subtle shifts in auroras flickering around Jupiter's moon Ganymede, has confirmed the presence of a deep salt-water ocean 95 miles below the icy crust of the solar system's largest moon, scientists said Thursday.
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NASA's Dawn spacecraft slipped into orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres Friday, setting the stage for unprecedented close-range observations of the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, an enigmatic world featuring heavily cratered terrain, smooth plains and mysterious bright spots.
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Engineers are running tests to pinpoint an apparent short circuit somewhere in the complex electronics aboard NASA's Curiosity Mars rover that triggered fault protection software and interrupted robot arm science operations last week, officials said Wednesday.
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NASA's Dawn spacecraft is closing in on the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, beaming back increasingly sharp pictures revealing a heavily cratered world with unexpected -- and so far, mystifying -- spots of light that may be reflections off exposed ice or some other material.
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket finally climbed into space Wednesday, boosting a space weather sentinel onto a million-mile trajectory to provide early warning of potentially dangerous solar storms.
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Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a space weather satellite was scrubbed Tuesday by high winds aloft, but the company pressed ahead with recovery of a returning space station cargo ship. Read More...

Launch of a satellite dreamed up 17 years ago by Al Gore to provide continuous views of Earth via the internet and now repurposed to serve as a space weather station was scrubbed Sunday by a radar glitch. Read More...

A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket boosted an innovative NASA satellite into orbit Saturday, kicking off a three-year, $916 million mission to measure the moisture, frozen and liquid, in the top few inches of Earth's soil.
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A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket carrying a NASA climate research satellite was grounded Thursday by high winds above the Vandenberg Air Force Base launch site northwest of Los Angeles.
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The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is beaming back high-resolution photos of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko this week that engineers hope will reveal the location of the Philae lander.
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Carefully analyzing data collected by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, scientists discovered a sudden, unexpected spike in methane levels in the martian atmosphere over a two-month period one year ago, researchers announced Tuesday.
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An H-2A rocket blasted off from Japan's picturesque Tanegashima Space Center late Tuesday, boosting an innovative science probe into space for a six-year mission to rendezvous with an asteroid and bring soil samples back to Earth. Read More...

Trapped in rough, forbidding terrain with its solar panels draped in shadow, the Philae comet lander raced the clock Friday to carry out high-priority science operations, including an attempt to drill into the surface of the nucleus, before exhausting its batteries. Read More...

When the Philae spacecraft landed on a comet Wednesday, the anchors needed to hold it down in the feeble gravity failed to fire and the lander bounced back into space, soaring more than a half mile before hitting the ground more than a half mile away. Read More...

The European Space Agency's Rosetta probe released a small lander early Wednesday that descended to touchdown on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but it was not immediately clear whether the spacecraft was stable in the feeble gravity. Read More...

The European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, flying in close formation with a slowly tumbling comet, was on track to release a small lander Wednesday that will attempt an unprecedented touchdown on the boulder-strewn, debris-spewing nucleus. Read More...

Comet Siding Spring's close flyby of Mars last month dumped several tons of primordial dust into the thin martian atmosphere, likely creating a brief but spectacular meteor shower with thousands of shooting stars had any astronauts been there to see it. Read More...

The red planet's brush with Comet Siding Spring Sunday was a close encounter of the best kind for science, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study a pristine remnant of the solar system's birth 4.6 billion years ago. Read More...

An international fleet of five Mars orbiters and two rovers will have ringside seats when a mountain-size comet streaks by on Oct. 19, passing within a scant 87,000 miles of the red planet at a blistering 126,000 mph, NASA scientists said Thursday.
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A NASA space telescope studying X-ray emissions from a nearby galaxy has discovered the brightest pulsar ever detected, the fast-spinning remnant of a collapsed star that shines so intensely it was initially mistaken for a massive black hole.
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NASA's MAVEN spacecraft braked into orbit around Mars Sunday, a major milestone for a $671 million mission find out how much of the martian atmosphere leaked away in the distant past.
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Responding to criticism from a review panel that questioned the science agenda of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, senior managers Thursday defended the $2.5 billion mission, saying the spacecraft had more than achieved its primary science goals. Read More...

Eight years outbound from Earth, NASA's New Horizons probe passed the orbit of Neptune Monday, in good health and on course for a high-speed dash past enigmatic Pluto and its large moon Charon next summer.
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After a 10-year, 3.7-billion-mile chase, Europe's Rosetta spacecraft finally caught up with its target Wednesday, firing its main engine to precisely match orbits with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Read More...

After a 10-year space odyssey highlighted by four velocity-boosting planetary flybys and a pair of asteroid encounters, Europe's $1.7 billion Rosetta spacecraft finally reaches its target Wednesday, matching orbits with an oddball comet in a historic rendezvous. Read More...

NASA's next Mars rover will feature state-of-the-art science and technology instruments, including a device to cache rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth and another to extract oxygen from the martian atmosphere, officials said Thursday. Read More...

A quarter of the century after launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope is still pushing the frontiers of observational astronomy, thanks to the sensitivity of its instruments, the ultra precise way the observatory can be controlled and ingenious new techniques.
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Five years after a final shuttle servicing mission, the Hubble Space Telescope's instruments are operating in near-flawless fashion and while one of its six stabilizing gyros has failed, engineers are optimistic the observatory will operate through the end of the decade. Read More...

A workhorse Delta 2 rocket roared to life and climbed away from California coast early Wednesday, boosting an environmental research satellite into orbit on a $468 million mission to precisely measure global carbon dioxide levels, a key factor in climate change. (UPDATED)
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Getting a second chance after a 2009 launch failure, environmental researchers are eagerly awaiting launch early Tuesday of a $468 million mission designed to precisely measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere.
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Despite the failure of a huge supersonic parachute to fully inflate during a test flight at the edge of space Saturday, engineers said Sunday they were elated with the otherwise near-flawless performance of a research craft built to study improved aerobraking for Mars landers. Read More...

A huge high-altitude balloon took off from Hawaii Saturday, gracefully lifting a 3.5-ton flying saucer-shaped Mars research vehicle on a ride to the edge of space for a dramatic rocket-powered test of an inflatable doughnut-like braking system and a huge supersonic parachute. Read More...

Scientists analyzing data from the planet-hunting Kepler space telescope have chalked up another first, finding an Earth-size world orbiting in the habitable zone of its parent star, researchers announced Thursday.
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A Japanese H-2A rocket boosted a sophisticated weather research satellite into orbit Thursday, the centerpiece of a $1.2 billion international mission to study global precipitation in a bid to improve climate models, forecasting and understanding of the water cycle. Read More...

A statistical analysis of data collected by NASA's Kepler space telescope has confirmed the discovery of 715 newly-found planets orbiting 305 stars, pushing to total number of known planets beyond Earth's solar system to nearly 1,700, researchers announced Wednesday.
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A space-based X-ray telescope has detected the glow of radioactive titanium created in the catastrophic death throes of a distant star, shedding new light on the mechanisms that may be responsible for destroying massive suns. Read More...

NASA's solar-powered Opportunity Mars rover, designed to operate for just 90 days on the red planet's cold, dust-shrouded surface, celebrates 10 years of exploration Friday, enduring a few age-related aches and pains but still making valuable observations. Read More...

A Chinese spacecraft, carrying a suite of instruments and a small rover named Yutu, or "Jade Rabbit," settled to an on-target touchdown on the moon Saturday, the first such lunar landing in 37 years and a major achievement for the Chinese space program. Read More...

Studying an ancient lakebed on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover team is now looking for areas where erosion may have uncovered pristine layers in which organic compounds -- and possibly remnant traces of life -- might still be found, scientists said Monday.
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During the final hours of its one and only trip into the inner solar system, Comet ISON almost certainly disintegrated in the hellish glare and crushing grip of the sun, leaving a cloud of debris -- and a treasure trove of data -- in its wake. Read More...

A powerful Long March 3B rocket boosted China's first lunar lander into space Sunday, an unmanned mothership that will descend to the surface in mid December and deploy a rover named Yutu, or "Jade Rabbit," for independent scientific observations. Read More...

After a multi-million-year plunge from the frozen fringes of the solar system, Comet ISON may have broken apart and evaporated in the fierce heat and crushing gravity of the sun before or during a close flyby Thursday, scientist say. Or maybe not. (UPDATED) Read More...

Astronomers around the world are closely monitoring Comet ISON's plunge through the inner solar system and awaiting data from a fleet of space telescopes to find out whether the enigmatic chunk of ice will survive a blistering Thanksgiving Day flyby of the sun.
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Science observations by the Curiosity Mars rover are on hold pending tests to pin down the cause of an unexpected voltage change that was detected last Sunday, NASA said in a status report Wednesday. Read More...

A new NASA Mars probe began a 10-month voyage to the red planet Monday, blasting off on a $671 million mission to study the martian atmosphere and the cause of a dramatic case of climate change.
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NASA's next Mars probe is poised for launch Monday, weather permitting, to kick off a $671 million mission to find out why a good portion of the red planet's atmosphere leaked away ages ago in an extreme case of climate change.
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A spectacular panorama of the ringed planet Saturn, captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft as it flew through the planet's shadow July 19, was unveiled Tuesday, showing Earth and its two sister planets, Mars and Venus as star-like points of light. Read More...

Data collected by NASA's Kepler space telescope indicates one in five sun-like stars likely hosts an Earth-size planet in the habitable zone where life as it is known on Earth can, in theory, exist, scientists say. Read More...

NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft went into "safe mode" just 10 minutes after a gravity-assist flyby of Earth Wednesday, but managers said Thursday they are back in touch and the spacecraft appears healthy.
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Returning to its starting point after a loop out beyond the orbit of Mars, NASA's Juno probe raced toward Earth Wednesday for a velocity-boosting flyby, using the planet's gravity to fling the craft on to Jupiter.
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NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, 36 years and 12 billion miles from Earth, has crossed the boundary between the sun's influence and interstellar space, becoming humanity's first true starship, scientists said Thursday.
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Lighting up the night sky with a trail of fiery exhaust, an Orbital Sciences Minotaur 5 rocket blazed away from the Virginia coast late Friday, boosting a small NASA probe on a trajectory toward the moon. Read More...

An innovative spacecraft perched atop a five-stage booster is poised for launch from the Virginia coast late Friday on a mission to study the moon's ultra-thin atmosphere look for signs of suspended moon dust. Read More...

Engineers have concluded NASA's Kepler space telescope will no longer be able to search for Earth-size planets because of trouble with the spacecraft's gyroscopic stabilization system.
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One year after a nail-biting descent to the surface of Mars, NASA's $2.5 billion Curiosity rover, fresh from confirming the red planet was habitable in the distant past, is making its way to the base of Mount Sharp. Read More...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has beamed back spectacular pictures of Saturn, its rings and distant Earth, a "pale blue dot" nearly a billion miles away, as the robot passed behind the ringed planet last Friday.
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft is poised to snap a dramatic portrait of Earth Friday, capturing a mosaic showing humanity's home in space as a pinprick of light just to one side of Saturn's spectacular rings.
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A team of scientists studying possible mission scenarios for a planned 2020 Mars mission modeled on NASA's Curiosity rover has recommended a spacecraft designed to look for traces of past life. Read More...

A winged Pegasus rocket lifted a compact solar observatory into orbit around Earth's poles Thursday to study the mysterious mechanisms that heat up the sun's outer atmosphere to extreme temperatures. Read More...

Ten months after landing, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is poised to begin the long trek to Mount Sharp, a towering mound of layered rock that is expected to shed new light on the planet's history and habitability.

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Future manned missions to Mars will require internal shielding and advanced propulsion systems to shorten transit times, minimizing exposure to caner-causing space radiation, scientists said Thursday. Read More...

Despite steady advances in ground-based astronomy, the Hubble Space Telescope remains an icon of world-class science, more productive today than at any point in its history, scientists say. Read More...

NASA's $600 million Kepler Space Telescope, a leading player in the hunt for Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars, has been sidelined by problems with stabilizing gyroscopic reaction wheels. Read More...

NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered the smallest worlds yet found orbiting in or near the habitable zones of two distant suns, researchers report.
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The Obama administration is requesting $17.7 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2014 budget proposal, including $105 million to begin laying the groundwork for a proposed mission to robotically capture a small asteroid. Read More...

NASA is working on plans to robotically capture and tow a small asteroid back to Earth's vicinity by the end of the decade, setting the stage for manned visits in the early 2020s, officials say. Read More...

A $2 billion cosmic ray detector attached to the International Space Station has detected positrons that could be the result of dark matter interactions, but scientists say more observations are needed to be sure.
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Dismal weather in Kazakhstan forced Russian flight controllers to order a one-day landing delay for two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut who are closing out a nearly five-month stay in space. Read More...

Analyzing samples drilled from the interior of a sedimentary rock, the Curiosity Mars rover has detected traces of the chemicals and compounds necessary for a habitable environment in the distant past. Read More...

Work to switch operations to a backup flight computer aboard the Curiosity Mars rover is continuing amid analysis to figure out how to fix memory corruption discovered last week in the rover's active computer. Read More...

Space radiation may be to blame for corrupted memory used by the Curiosity Mars rover's flight computer, resulting in software glitches that interrupted the flow of science data Wednesday. Read More...

An innovative NASA X-ray telescope working in concert with a European Space Agency satellite has measured the rotation of a supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of a distant galaxy. Read More...

The Curiosity rover's power drill has successfully collected its first subsurface sample, about a tablespoon of powdered rock that will be fed into the spacecraft's on-board laboratory instruments for detailed analysis. Read More...

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered a solar system 210 light years from Earth with the smallest planet yet found orbiting another sun-like star. Read More...

An asteroid a half a football field across is expected to safely pass within just 17,200 miles of Earth on Friday, a record close encounter that will carry it well inside the orbits of communications satellites. Read More...

An Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from California Monday and boosted a new Earth-watching Landsat into its planned polar orbit to kick off an $885 million mission to monitor the planet and its resources. (UPDATED) Read More...

In a long-awaited milestone, the Curiosity Mars rover successfully drilled into a martian rock, prompting NASA science chief John Grunsfeld to declare the nuclear-powered robot fully operational. Read More...

A new study indicates some 60 percent of the galaxy's most ubiquitous stars likely host planets smaller than Neptune and about 6 percent host Earth-size worlds orbiting in the so-called "Goldilocks" zone. Read More...

NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, with a design life of just 90 days, moves into its 10th year of operations, exploring the rim of Endeavour Crater. Principal Investigator Steve Squyres discusses the mission. Read More...

Taking their time with a surprising variety of scientific targets, scientists are gearing up to test the Curiosity Mars rover's powerful impact drill before beginning a year-long trek to Mount Sharp some six miles away. Read More...

Going out with a bang, two small NASA probes that flew in formation to precisely map the moon's gravity field crashed into a mile-high mountainside Monday, bringing a successful mission to an abrupt end.
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Two washing machine-size science probes that have completed their mission to map the lunar gravity field will slam into a mile-high mountainside Monday, bringing a successful mission to a kamikaze conclusion.
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NASA announced plans Tuesday to build and launch a new rover to the red planet in 2020 based on the design of the agency's hugely successful Curiosity. Read More...

NASA's aging Voyager 1 probe has crossed into an unexpected, exceedingly remote region of the solar system that may represent the spacecraft's final step before moving into the vast realm of interstellar space.
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NASA's Curiosity rover has found traces of simple organic compounds in a martian soil sample, but more tests are needed to rule out the presence of any lingering earthly contaminants in the rover's science gear. Read More...

NASA's Messenger spacecraft has found strong evidence for vast ice deposits in ultra-cold, permanently shadowed craters near the poles of hellish Mercury, scientists said Thursday.
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NASA is downplaying widespread speculation that one of the Curiosity Mars rover's instruments, designed to look for organic compounds, has made a major discovery. A news conference is planned Monday. Read More...

Buffeted by ethereal whirlwinds and twisters, the Curiosity Mars rover is wrapping up initial soil analysis operations and preparing to move on in search of suitable targets for a compact rock drill. Read More...

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has not found any definitive evidence of methane in the thin air at the Gale Crater landing site, project scientists said Friday, but additional observations are planned.
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Two rookie cosmonauts and a NASA shuttle veteran rocketed into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz ferry craft Tuesday and set off after the International Space Station. Read More...

The Curiosity Mars rover is processing its first soil sample in an instrument designed to identify the minerals present in soil and rock samples. A small shiny fragment near the rover is thought to be naturally occurring. Read More...

The Mars Curiosity rover is pausing for a few weeks near fine-grained sand dunes to scoop up soil and run it through the vehicle's sample acquisition system to clean out lingering traces of Earth's environment.
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has found outcrops of conglomerate rocks made up of eroded gravels that scientists believe were transported across the floor of Gale Crater by a "vigorous" flow of water. Read More...

A two-million-second time exposure using cameras aboard the Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of proto galaxies as they appeared just 450 million years after the big bang. Read More...

The Curiosity Mars rover, more than halfway to its first scientific destination, is pausing for a few days to carry out its first hands-on geology, focusing on a pyramid-shaped rock known as 'Jake.' Read More...

Engineers testing the Curiosity Mars rover are wrapping up a series of robot arm calibration and motion tests before resuming a slow trek toward a nearby rock formation this weekend. Read More...

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, now about 270 feet from its landing site, is pausing for a week of robot arm tests and checkout before pressing on to Glenelg, an area where three types of rock come together.
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An Atlas 5 rocket boosted a pair of heavily shielded satellites into space early Thursday, kicking off a $686 million mission to map out the structure and behavior of the Van Allen radiation belts. Read More...

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has beamed back stunning photos of the foothills of Mount Sharp, showing a rugged landscape marked by towering hills and gaping canyons reminiscent of the American Southwest. Read More...

A second attempt to launch an Atlas 5 rocket carrying a pair of NASA satellites was called off early Saturday because of nearby thunderstorms. Faced with a dismal forecast, NASA delayed a third try to Aug. 30. Read More...

Launch of an Atlas 5 rocket carrying two NASA satellites to study the Van Allen radiation belts was rescheduled for Saturday after engineers resolved an issue with tracking equipment. Read More...

Two heavily shielded satellites set for launch early Friday will fly in tandem through Earth's energetic Van Allen radiation belts to probe their structure and how they are affected by solar storms. Read More...

In a major milestone, the Curiosity Mars rover took its first baby steps Wednesday, rolling about 15 feet forward, turning and then backing up to prove the $2.5 billion science lab is, in fact, ready to rove. Read More...

With a broken wind sensor the only problem of any note aboard the Curiosity Mars rover, engineers planned to uplink commands overnight for an initial test drive. Read More...

The Curiosity Mars rover flexed its 7-foot-long robot arm for the first time Monday, moving it through a commanded series of steps to verify the basic operation of the complex appendage.
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NASA plans to launch a relatively low-cost Mars lander in 2016 that will make a rocket-powered descent to the surface to study the hidden interior of the red planet. Read More...

The Curiosity rover successfully test fired a powerful laser at a nearby rock Sunday, blasting it with rapid-fire million-watt pulses to vaporize the outer layers for spectroscopic analysis. Read More...

The Curiosity rover likely will spend the rest of the year working near its landing site in Gale Crater before it heads for the rugged foothills of Mount Sharp, just four-and-a-half miles, but many months, away. Read More...

Intriguing video combines low-resolution descent video from the Curiosity Mars rover with mission control audio and a timeline of major entry, descent and landing events to give viewers a ringside seat. Read More...

Engineers successfully updated the Curiosity rover's computer software and plan initial tests of the mobile science lab's ability to drive across the martian terrain within the next week or so, officials said Tuesday.
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President Obama congratulated the Mars Science Laboratory team Monday for the successful landing of the Curiosity rover, joking that engineers should let him know ASAP if the spacecraft spots any martians. Read More...

The electronic brain controlling NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has far less horsepower than the microchips found in a modern smart phone. But it has one big advantage: it's virtually impervious to high-energy radiation. Read More...

In a complex bit of electronic brain surgery, engineers are gearing up to flush landing software from the Curiosity rover's central computer and replace it with programming optimized for surface operations. Read More...

The Curiosity Mars rover, stepping through a complex post-landing checklist in near flawless fashion, has raised its main camera mast and beamed down razor-sharp navigation camera views of its surroundings. Read More...

The Curiosity Mars rover survived its nail-biting plunge to a pinpoint landing on the floor of Gale Crater in remarkably good shape, engineers said Monday as tests and checkout proceeded. (UPDATED) Read More...

In an unparalleled technological triumph, a one-ton nuclear-powered rover the size of a small car was lowered to the surface of Mars late Sunday to kick off an unprecedented $2.5 billion mission. Read More...

In a $2.5 billion gamble, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover will attempt a pinpoint landing on the red planet overnight Sunday to search for the chemical building blocks of life and signs of past or present habitability. Read More...

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will rely on a rocket-powered "sky crane" to lower the car-size rover to the surface, a make-or-break maneuver that solves a host of daunting technical challenges. Read More...

During the Curiosity rover's nail-biting descent to Mars, engineers will rely on an aging NASA science satellite to relay telemetry back to Earth that will confirm success or failure in near realtime. Read More...

Problems with a NASA satellite in orbit around Mars could delay confirmation of a successful landing by the agency's Mars Science Laboratory rover, but engineers say that will have no impact on the actual descent. Read More...

A small X-ray telescope was boosted into orbit by an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket Wednesday, the first step in an ambitious low-cost mission to study supermassive black holes and the creation of heavy elements. Read More...

NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory rover is in good shape and on target for a nail-biting seven-minute plunge to a bulls-eye landing on the red planet in early August, mission managers said Monday.
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The Obama administration is requesting $17.7 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2013 budget, boosting spending for commercial manned space flight while reducing the scope of Mars exploration.
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Ringing in the new year with back-to-back successes, a second NASA science satellite slipped into orbit around the moon Sunday, one day after an identical spacecraft braked into the same polar orbit. Read More...

For the first time, astronomers using NASA's Kepler space telescope have confirmed a roughly Earth-size planet orbiting a sun-like star in the habitable zone where conditions may be favorable for life as it is known on Earth.
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A towering Atlas 5 rocket flashed to life and vaulted into space Saturday, putting on a spectacular show as it boosted NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover on an eight-and-a-half-month voyage to the red planet. Read More...

Launch of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory rover atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket has been delayed one day, from Friday to Saturday, to replace a battery in the booster's self-destruct system.
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A Delta 2 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base early Friday, boosting a $1.5 billion weather satellite into space to improve both short-range forecasting and understanding of long-term climate change.
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An out-of-service German space telescope apparently plunged back into the atmosphere late Saturday. Experts predicted much of its heat-resistant 1.7-ton X-ray mirror and carbon composite support structure would survive re-entry to hit the ground, but there was no immediate confirmation. Read More...

Analysis of data collected by a NASA infrared space telescope shows there are fewer near-Earth asteroids than previously believed, scientists said Thursday. But most of the nearly 20,000 bodies have yet to be detected. Read More...

Amateur satellite trackers hoping to catch a glimpse of NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite when it plunges into the atmosphere Friday will need patience, clear skies and a large helping of luck, experts say. Read More...

NASA's Kepler space telescope, searching for planets around distant suns, has found a Saturn-size world orbiting a pair of stars 200 light years from Earth, the first discovery of a "circumbinary" planet. Read More...

A Delta 2 rocket blasted off Saturday and successfully boosted two NASA science satellites into space to kick off an ambitious $496 million mission to map the moon's gravity and internal structure.
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Launch of a Delta 2 rocket carrying twin satellites designed to precisely map the moon's gravity has been delayed to Saturday because of high winds aloft and a potential issue with the rocket's propulsion system. Read More...

A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket is on track for launch Thursday, weather permitting, to kick off a $496 million mission to precisely map the moon's gravitational field. Read More...

NASA unveiled new closeup views of three Apollo landing sites Tuesday, clearly showing the footprints of visiting astronauts, the lower stages of the lunar landers and the tracks left behind by a dune buggy-like rover. Read More...

NASA's $2.4 billion Mars Science Laboratory has completed an exhaustive series of functional tests to verify the car-size rover's readiness for launch in November on an eight-and-a-half-month voyage to the red planet .
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A powerful Atlas 5 rocket roared to life Friday and successfully launched NASA's Juno probe on a five-year voyage to Jupiter, the first step in a $1.1 billion mission to look for clues about the origins of the solar system. Read More...

A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has detected signs of what appear to be seasonal flows of salty water on the surface of the red planet during warmer summer months, researchers said Thursday.
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NASA's Dawn spacecraft, now in orbit around the asteroid Vesta, is beaming back a treasure trove of data about one of the solar system's most ancient bodies. Read More...

NASA is readying the $1.1 billion Juno probe for launch Aug. 5 on a five-year voyage to Jupiter to kick off a challenging one-year mission to answer key questions about the formation and evolution of the solar system. Read More...

President Barack Obama called the International Space Station Friday to congratulate the shuttle Atlantis' crew on NASA's 135th and final shuttle mission, vowing an "exciting new era" of space exploration. Read More...

NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory satellite has detected super massive black holes in the dusty cores of numerous galaxies that formed within a billion years of the big bang birth of the universe. Read More...

A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket carrying a sophisticated oceanography satellite blasted off Friday on a long-awaited mission to monitor the salinity of Earth's oceans. Read More...

NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft, approaching the edge of the solar system, have detected signs of what may be gigantic magnetic bubbles at the interface between the sun's influence and interstellar space. Read More...

The Endeavour astronauts plan to carry out a fourth and final spacewalk Friday to mount the shuttle's no-longer-needed heat shield inspection boom on the International Space Station. Read More...

Two weeks after slipping into orbit around Mercury, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is beaming back a steady stream of intriguing pictures. A year-long campaign to map the planet is scheduled to begin Monday. Read More...

After a six-and-a-half-year journey, NASA's compact MESSENGER probe braked into a looping orbit around hellish Mercury Thursday, becoming the first spacecraft to take up long-term residence around the innermost planet.
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The shuttle Discovery glided to a smooth touchdown Wednesday to wrap up the orbiter's 39th and final mission, a milestone marking the beginning of the end for NASA's winged rocketships. Read More...

NASA's Glory environmental research satellite crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean Friday in a $424 million launch failure, the second in a row for the Orbital Sciences Taurus XL booster. Read More...

Astronauts Alvin Drew and Stephen Bowen plan to install a backup electrical cable between two space station modules, store a failed ammonia pump module and perform general maintenance during a planned 6.5-hour spacewalk. Read More...

The Discovery astronauts are working through a routine but busy day in space, highlighted by inspections of the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels, along with preparations for docking with the space station Saturday (Updated at 12:40 p.m. EST). Read More...

NASA's Stardust-NExT spacecraft raced past comet Tempel 1 Monday in a Valentine's Day flyby to map out changes in the icy body since another spacecraft encountered the comet in 2005. Read More...

Images from NASA's Stardust-NExT spacecraft, shot as the probe streaked past comet Tempel 1 late Monday, are being posted on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's website. Read More...

Faced with reduced funding and an uncertain outlook, NASA's $18.7 billion fiscal 2012 budget prioritizes the Obama administration's major goals and objectives but leaves unclear when post-shuttle manned spacecraft might fly. Read More...

NASA's Kepler space telescope has found more than 1,200 possible planets orbiting distant suns, including 68 roughly Earth-sized worlds, in the initial stages of a three-year project to find out how common Earth-like worlds might be. Read More...

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found what appears to be a small proto-galaxy 13.2 billion light years away, making it the most distant -- and oldest -- object ever detected. Read More...

An independent review panel has found that miscues by NASA management threaten to add $1.5 billion to the cost of the agency's next generation space telescope, a projected overrun that is prompting a shakeup at agency headquarters. Read More...

NASA's recycled Deep Impact spacecraft flew past the nucleus of Comet Hartley 2 Thursday, beaming back spectacular pictures of its frozen, peanut-shaped nucleus and multiple jets of icy debris (UPDATED with news briefing) Read More...

A $2 billion physics experiment bound for the International Space Station was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center Thursday after a busy summer of work to replace the magnet at the heart of the powerful particle detector. Read More...

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found its first confirmed multi-planet solar system, including two Saturn-class worlds and a possible low-mass planet just slightly larger than Earth. The announcement follows a European discovery, using a different technique, of a solar system with up to seven planets. Read More...

Astronomers discover a solar system 127 light years away with up to seven planets, including one world just a bit larger than Earth. If confirmed, this would be the least massive extra-solar planet yet found. Read More...

NASA's $2.4 billion Mars Science Laboratory rover -- Curiosity -- is the most sophisticated unmanned lander ever built, a robot scientists hope will revolutionize humanity's understanding of the red planet (CNET repost). Read More...

In a high-speed computer-orchestrated descent jokingly referred to as "six minutes of terror," NASA's newest Mars rover will rely on a rocket-powered "sky crane" to lower the car-size robot to the surface (CNET repost). Read More...

Loaded with sophisticated instruments and a nuclear power pack immune to sunlight-dimming dust, NASA's Curiosity rover will search for carbon compounds and geologic clues about the habitability of the red planet (CNET repost). Read More...