JPL explores five new ideas for space exploration, including robotic mirrors and an art-inspired automaton.

Space Science Image of the Week: ESA’s Planck satellite mapped the magnetic field of our Milky Way galaxy, capturing an ethereal flame-filled scene at the Polaris Flare

Every 18 months or so, scientists and sensation-seekers gather at set points on Earth’s surface, to await awe-inspiring solar eclipses. The Moon briefly blocks the Sun, revealing its mysterious outer atmosphere, the corona. Though what if researchers could induce such eclipses at will?

Eroded mesas and buttes reminiscent of the U.S. Southwest shape part of the horizon in the latest 360-degree color panorama from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover.

Eroded mesas and buttes reminiscent of the U.S. Southwest shape part of the horizon in the latest 360-degree color panorama from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover.

Our week through the lens: 15-19 August 2016

Planets, Pallas, and the Big Dipper will all make wonderful viewing this week.

Operations image of the week: ESA’s deep-space tracking station in Australia makes the longest-ever ‘catch’ for the Agency

An ESA tracking station has acquired signals from the international Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, across more than 1.4 billion km of space.

Polish astronomers saw a dormant beast go nova in a spectacular sky show.

NASA’s MISR instrument captured an image of the growing, destructive wildfire burning about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

NASA’s MISR instrument captured an image of the growing, destructive wildfire burning about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Technology image of the week: ESA’s largest establishment will be opening its doors to the public for its annual Open Day on Sunday 2 October

The miniature satellites known as CubeSats already play a variety of roles in space. In future they could also serve as the building blocks of other, larger missions by being docked together in orbit.

Video showcase of ESA’s fleet of space science missions and how they are helping us to understand our place in the Universe

A NASA press release recently suggested Mars’ gullies were formed solely by carbon dioxide. The truth is much murkier.

Ultra-compact, hard-to-spot stellar objects can’t account for the missing matter of the universe.

A NASA-led team has analyzed a “hot spot” of methane emissions in the U.S. Four Corners region, quantifying both its overall magnitude and the magnitudes of its sources.

NASA has approved the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) to proceed to the next phase of design and development for the mission’s robotic segment

A NASA-led team has analyzed a “hot spot” of methane emissions in the U.S. Four Corners region, quantifying both its overall magnitude and the magnitudes of its sources.

NASA has approved the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) to proceed to the next phase of design and development for the mission’s robotic segment

A NASA-led team has analyzed a “hot spot” of methane emissions in the U.S. Four Corners region, quantifying both its overall magnitude and the magnitudes of its sources.

Do you want the opportunity to have your say in suggesting priorities in European space programmes?

For the first time, particles were detected escaping an artificially-created black hole, including evidence of Hawking radiation.

Katherine Johnson was a guiding force behind Project Mercury. Now, a new movie wants to highlight the African-American woman’s forgotten history.

There’s no cloud cover when your hundreds of miles above the clouds.

Space Science Image of the Week: Hubble has spied countless stunning cosmic objects, but few as dramatic as the star Hen 2-247 and its fiery nebula M1-67

NASA’s Kepler space telescope has helped amass the most complete catalog of rotation periods for stars in a cluster

NASA’s Kepler space telescope has helped amass the most complete catalog of rotation periods for stars in a cluster.

Our week through the lens: 8-12 August 2016

Mars isn’t the only planet that may have once held life.

It’s not Niku itself that’s weird. It’s how and where it orbits.

JPL research designed to keep first responders out of harm’s way receives award from the Department of Homeland Security.

JPL research designed to keep first responders out of harm’s way receives award from the Department of Homeland Security.

Schiaparelli, the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module of the joint ESA/Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 mission, will target the Meridiani Planum region for its October landing, as seen in this mosaic created from Mars Express images.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found deep, steep-sided canyons on Saturn’s moon Titan that are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found deep, steep-sided canyons on Saturn’s moon Titan that are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons.

Saturn’s largest moon is beginning to look more and more like a bizarro Earth.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) sent 1,035 photos of Mars back to Earth.

Here are a few ways that humanity may be able to leave the cradle of Earth.

Technology image of the week: the blankets of multi-layer insulation that make satellites look like wrapped-up Christmas gifts

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: testing new version of astronaut instruction manual underwater

New research points to Tabby’s Star dimming immensely over a four year time period.

From our friends at Astronomers Without Borders.

Discover our planet’s changing climate through the eyes of satellites with Climate from Space, a new iPad App featuring interactive maps and video interviews with top scientists

Fiona Harrison, principal investigator of NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) mission, has been selected to receive the 2016 Massey Award, given by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR).

Fiona Harrison, principal investigator of NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) mission, has been selected to receive the 2016 Massey Award, given by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR).

Ending 16 days underwater to simulate a space mission

Rosetta celebrates two incredible years at the comet

The universe lived through a prolonged “Dark Ages” until hydrogen reionized. Now, researchers are closer to figuring out when that happened.

The easiest answer is, it depends.

Researchers find that volcanic activity ended approximately 3.5 billion years ago on Mercury.

Rosetta was a rousing success. Here’s why that was quite an accomplishment.

Martian veins at Yellowknife Bay at Gale Crater are evidence of ancient water on the Red Planet.

You can expect to see up to 150 ‘shooting stars’ per hour when 2016’s best meteor shower peaks the night of August 11/12.

Our week through the lens: 1-5 August 2016

Animation visualising Rosetta’s two-year adventure flying alongside a comet

Nearing the fourth anniversary of Curiosity landing on Mars, the rover works on collecting a 17th sample, while Earthlings can play a new social media game about Mars exploration.

A new study finds coastal waters and water supplies along a fifth of U.S. coasts are vulnerable to pollution from hidden underground water transfers between oceans and land.

Using public data collected by NASA’s Kepler mission, astronomers have catalogued the planet candidates that may be similar to our third rock from the sun.

A new study finds coastal waters and water supplies along a fifth of U.S. coasts are vulnerable to pollution from hidden underground water transfers between oceans and land.

Nearing the fourth anniversary of Curiosity landing on Mars, the rover works on collecting a 17th sample, while Earthlings can play a new social media game about Mars exploration.

A private spaceflight company, Moon Express, received approval to land on the Moon.

Neal Stephenson is here to tell you about preparing for the biggest emergency.

A new study suggests Ceres has a weak interior, and that water and other light materials separated from rock during a heating phase early in its history.

NASA has helped produce the first map of thawing at the bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet — key information in better predicting how it will react to a warming climate.

NASA has helped produce the first map of thawing at the bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet — key information in better predicting how it will react to a warming climate.

A new study suggests Ceres has a weak interior, and that water and other light materials separated from rock during a heating phase early in its history.

Jupiter’s closest moon, Io, has an atmosphere that collapses when it is eclipsed by the gas giant.

A new study reveals what lies deep inside the dwarf planet, Ceres.

Technology image of the week: candidate coatings for a new space antenna seen undergoing testing at ESA’s technical heart

A new image from a NASA spacecraft shows the area burned in the Sand Fire near Los Angeles.

A new image from a NASA spacecraft shows the area burned in the Sand Fire near Los Angeles.

It has been years in the making, but one of the trickiest pieces of space technology ever developed is finally ready to join its satellite for launch by the end of next year. With this milestone, we are another step closer to a better understanding of Earth’s winds.

Radio astronomy reveals millions of years of the supernova remnant 1987A’s life.

A new study suggests that present-day life appeared early.

There is a surprising lack of Cepheid Variable stars in the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

NASA upgraded Curiosity with computer vision, letting it choose interesting rocks on its own.

The spacecraft will soon get to test its instruments before its science phase begins.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) really could kill us all from light-years away, but don’t fret too hard yet.

Space science image of the week: A gigantic loop of fiery gas reaches out into space

A key feature of the James Webb Space Telescope is helping to shed light on what goes on underneath boats in stormy weather and around the structures of offshore oilrigs.

New findings using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that gullies on modern Mars are likely not being formed by flowing liquid water.

Five years after departing Earth, and a month after slipping into orbit around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft is nearing a turning point.

Five years after departing Earth, and a month after slipping into orbit around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft is nearing a turning point.

New findings using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that gullies on modern Mars are likely not being formed by flowing liquid water.

Our week through the lens: 25-29 July 2016

A project dedicated to answering the question, are we alone in the universe?

Astronomers have finally found evidence of “high-pitched” singing black holes.

Liquid water was likely not the culprit for forming the gullies on Mars.

Supermassive black holes in the universe are like a raucous choir singing in the language of X-rays. When black holes pull in surrounding matter, they let out powerful X-ray bursts.

Supermassive black holes in the universe are like a raucous choir singing in the language of X-rays. When black holes pull in surrounding matter, they let out powerful X-ray bursts.

Rosetta paints comets as ancient leftovers of the early Solar System, not young fragments born from collisions

Operations image of the week: A happy mission control team at ESA just after ExoMars completed its first deep-space engine firing en route to the Red Planet

Join us Friday, 29 July, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of northeastern Iran

A new study suggests that exposure to deep space made its mark on those that went to the Moon.

Astronomers find a superluminous supernova that seems to have exploded twice.

Head out under a clear, dark sky after midnight these next couple of nights and you’ll see a dramatic display of “shooting stars.”

Following a lengthy firing of its powerful engine this morning, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is on track to arrive at the Red Planet in October.

Alone on the cosmic road, far from any known celestial object, a young, independent star is going through a tremendous growth spurt.