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NASA testing advanced capabilities for moon, Mars rovers

On a bleak stretch of the Colorado Desert in Southern California, a compact four-wheeled rover recently trundled 16 miles (26 kilometers) with minimal intervention from the team of engineers trailing it. Called ERNEST (Exploration ...

Desert field test with NASA advanced rover prototype

A prototype four-wheel rover developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory with advanced mobility and robotic autonomy capabilities trundled across the Colorado Desert near Plaster City, California, during a field test in ...

Texas wine grapes launch to space for research mission

Researchers from Texas A&M AgriLife are sending hundreds of grape seeds to the International Space Station, where the seeds will spend approximately six months exposed to cosmic radiation before returning to Earth for planting ...

Mars mission simulations reveal key to teamwork under pressure

Whether it's to the moon or Mars, a NASA mission requires some essential preparations: designing and developing the spacecraft, astronaut training and safety checks, clear goals, and strategies and procedures for maintaining ...

Quantum lab aboard space station gets 'chilly' upgrade

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have switched on NASA's newly upgraded Cold Atom Lab, a one-of-a-kind facility designed to improve how scientists explore the fundamental workings of matter and develop new ...

Future Martian colonists will need a new relativistic clock

We think of atomic clocks as the definitive timekeepers. They are famous for being accurate down to the picosecond. Unfortunately, they are still subject to general relativity, so if you put them on a different planet, they ...

The hidden physics complicating interstellar lightsails

If we're to reach another star, chemical propulsion will not get us there in any reasonable time frame. We're going to need a different propulsion technology, and one of the most promising seems to be a solar sail. These ...

SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket minutes ahead of IPO

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket loaded with Starlink satellites Friday less than an hour before Elon Musk's company was set to lift off for what would be the largest IPO in Wall Street history.

SpaceX lifts off in record Wall Street debut

Elon Musk's SpaceX began its first day as a public company on Wall Street on Friday after the biggest initial public offering in history, with the polarizing entrepreneur promising he will take humanity to Mars.

SpaceX IPO set for liftoff in record market debut

Elon Musk's SpaceX was set to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange Friday, with the biggest initial public offering in history expected to make the polarizing entrepreneur the world's first trillionaire.

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Space Exploration
Science fiction? Musk's lofty SpaceX goals unrealistic, skeptics say
Space Exploration
How a shape-shifting tiny rover inspired by Japanese toys autonomously explored the moon
Space Exploration
A look at the SpaceX IPO by the numbers
Space Exploration
NASA head defends Artemis 3 crew of all men
Space Exploration
Private space tourism is taking off—but laws on outer space are from another era
Astronomy
ESA officially adopts ARRAKIHS mission: EU leads the exploration of the low surface brightness universe
Space Exploration
Small optical component could change how telescopes view the sun
Space Exploration
Italian astronaut expects home flavors on Artemis III menu
Space Exploration
SpaceX's hold over orbit matches East India Company's grip on maritime trade
Space Exploration
NASA unveils Artemis III astronauts to test technology for a future moon landing
Space Exploration
Italian Luca Parmitano to be first European to join an Artemis mission: NASA
Space Exploration
How Artemis II livestreamed hi-def videos and images from the moon to Earth
Space Exploration
Plants could be used to grow medicines in space, study shows
Space Exploration
Artemis II moon mission research continues on Earth
Space Exploration
NASA's INCUS mission on road to launch, study storms from space
Space Exploration
Lunar orbiter concept could reveal five key elements across moon in two years
Space Exploration
SpaceX denied fast track to S&P 500 after IPO
Space Exploration
Smart surfaces face zero gravity test in boiling heat experiments
Space Exploration
SpaceX signs pre-IPO deal to provide AI computing to Google
Space Exploration
Astronauts briefly take shelter during repair to fix leak on the International Space Station

Other news

Materials Science
Scientists design a clay that can prevent fruits and vegetables from rotting too quickly
Superconductivity
Broken time-reversal symmetry phase in kagome metals may establish conditions for superconductivity
Planetary Sciences
Titan and Pluto exhibit the same mysterious spectral feature—and researchers can't figure out its origin
Plants & Animals
Newly described Australian ballista spider builds a spring-loaded snare to catch a single ant species
Mathematics
How languages recycle parts of words to avoid confusion
Biotechnology
Leaf-based fluorescence test speeds search for plant gene-editing targets
Ecology
Mosquito-borne viruses avoid killing hosts by limiting protein output, study reveals
Social Sciences
Women negotiate as effectively as men—but leave people happier
Earth Sciences
California has lost more than half of its coastal sand dunes, first-ever assessment reveals
Nanophysics
Nanotube-based thermoelectrics open a new pathway to waste-heat energy conversion
Biochemistry
How oxygen sneaks into a corked wine bottle long before the first pour
Plants & Animals
Seal pups and seabird chicks are suffering in extreme weather. How can we protect them?
Plants & Animals
Marmoset monkeys adapt their voices to sound more like their social partners, study finds
Biotechnology
Bird-derived gene tool inserts plant DNA 30 times more efficiently than CRISPR
Plants & Animals
Artificial light is keeping reef fish awake, and the effects may ripple across coral reefs
Plasma Physics
Experiment upends beliefs on how electrons actually behave in warm dense matter
Plants & Animals
Insects exhibit evidence of a daily body clock for humidity
Astronomy
Corrected Pantheon+ analysis of supernovae challenges accelerating universe claim
General Physics
Poo emoji, earthworm castings and pasta all obey the same coiling theory, physicists find
Evolution
New findings challenge idea that human bodies simply got bigger and bigger over time in a steady line

Blue Origin rocket explosion is bad news for both Bezos and NASA

Space exploration is filled with setbacks, but the spectacular explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on Thursday night marked a significant blow to not only the company, which was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, ...

A rare blue micromoon rises this weekend

Get set for a rare blue micromoon this weekend—a blue moon that's also the most distant and smallest-looking full moon of the year.