Space exploration

Ever since Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon, space exploration has captivated the minds of both the scientific world and the general public. To this day there have been hundreds of manned space flights from all around the globe and even more probes sent to explore our Solar System. With the dawn of private space flight through companies such as SpaceX and the continued desire to find another inhabitable planet, the incentive to probe the edges of the Solar System only grows.

Artwork of exoplanet 55 Cancri e. 55 Cancri is a binary star system located 41 light-years away, made up of a sun-like (G-type) star and a much smaller and dimmer red dwarf. The two stars are extremely widely separated, however, with around 1000 AU between then. There are several planets here, but the one featured in this picture is 55 Cnc e. Announced to the world in 2004, 55 Cnc is a 'super-earth', a terrestrial exoplanet weighing in at around 8.3 Earth masses. It is possible that this odd world is carbon rich, with much of its content being made up of diamonds owing to the high pressures and temperatures in the planet's interior. In this illustration, the red dwarf is just beyond the horizon, its light split into a spectrum of dazzling colours as it passes through a mountain of solid diamond.

The 8 strangest places in the Universe (including one on Earth)

Glass rain, anyone?

Illustration of a blue planet and a smaller red planet in space

The 10 'impossible' planets breaking the laws of the Universe

With sapphire waterfalls, lava rain and orbits around dead stars, these distant worlds push the limits of what’s possible

A UFO floating in the sky shining down a beam of light

Most experts now believe aliens exist. Here’s what convinced them

The research is mounting up that we might not be alone in this big wide world

null

undefined

An illustration of Mars

Why is Mars red?

For centuries – maybe millennia – humans have wondered why Mars has a reddish hue

Space rocket successfully launches into the starry sky with a full moon. Spaceship rocket takes off into space. Start up of a space mission, concept

Why the Moon's far side is now the prize every country wants

There’s only one place to go if we want to catch sight of the cosmic dawn

Spiral galaxy

These ‘impossible’ galaxies are breaking the Universe as we know it

It appears infant galaxies were much bigger babies than astronomers bargained for

Photo of the Moon, phone signal towers are silhouetted in front of the celestial body

Could I get phone signal on the Moon?

Companies are racing to put 5G on the Moon, an expert explains why as several missions are planned to visit our lunar neighbour

A NASA engineer checks six flight-ready segments of the JWST's primary mirror, a third of the final total.

The 25 most powerful ideas of the 21st century (so far), picked by the world’s top thinkers

We asked the world's foremost minds to highlight some of the game-changing scientific breakthroughs shaping our world since the year 2000

Anthropomorphic alien creature in futuristic silver spacesuit looking at camera at dark night.

Why aliens are (probably) too lazy to make first contact

Space is big. Why not kick back, relax, and wait for them to come to you?

I survived the worst fire in space history – and was told to keep it secret

New nightmare unlocked

Asteroid rock on green starry background

Astronomers discover hidden 'moon' shadowing Earth

The space rock is actually a ‘quasi moon’ on a similar orbit around the Sun

A car with a fake astronaut driver in space, the Earth is in the background

What's the strangest satellite in space?

There are likely over 12,000 artificial objects in orbit around Earth, including some very strange satellites you might not expect to be there

A reddish Mars rock, covered with lighter spots that are surrounded by a grey ring, resembling the spots of a leopard.

These strange markings are the 'clearest sign' of aliens on Mars, say NASA

Huge news for fans of space and David Bowie alike

US President Donald Trump speaks at NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, US, in May 2020.

Here's what Trump's space strategy means for future Mars landings

The American president wants boots on the Moon and eyes on Mars – but his budget aims to slash NASA’s funding by nearly a quarter

Illustration of a humanoid figure standing in space on a comet. It is made up of many different things you can find on earth

Scientists are now seriously asking if humans were seeded by aliens. Here's why

The idea that life on Earth began elsewhere in space has long been controversial, but it's now gaining traction

Illustration of an active quasar in a galaxy. The quasar is emitting from the centre of a spiral galaxy. The quasar is powered by material falling into the supermassive blackhole at the centre of the galaxy. This produces high energy radiation which pushes material away from the centre of the galaxy. This quasar wind propels material into the surrounding gas and dust of the galaxy which heats up, shown in blue in the spiral arms.

How understanding nothingness might just explain everything

There's a big, gaping hole in our understanding of the Universe. Meet the scientists trying to understand it

An image of a surface of a planet

Can liquids exist in space?

Even the simplest states of matter aren’t safe beyond Earth

Black hole

The new mystery hidden inside the Universe's biggest ever black hole

Black holes are big. Very big. But physics makes it almost impossible for them to grow. Here’s how one black hole defied the odds to swell to gargantuan proportions.

Astronaut on surface of the Moon next to American flag.

10 times space missions went hilariously wrong

From dropped tool bags to farting astronauts, spaceflight has had its fair share of amusing mistakes and embarrassing oversights

Artist rendering of the X-37B conducting an aerobraking manoeuvre using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere.

A top secret US spacecraft takes flight tonight – and it could rewrite the rules of future warfare

The X-37B returned to Earth this month, but details of its time in space remain hazy, to say the least.

Image depicting a group of planets in spacetime.

Something is wrong with our understanding of the Universe and the closer we look the weirder it gets

Our picture of the cosmos is incredibly detailed. But it's by no means complete. There are crucial pieces missing in the cosmic jigsaw. And without them the picture just doesn't make sense.

illustration of science fiction scene with dead skull astronaut

Here's how astronauts will soon solve murders in space

Houston, we have a homicide

A black hole in space devours galaxies and stars.

The six little red dots that nearly broke the Universe

The discovery of these unidentifiable objects threatened to break our understanding of the cosmos

Part of the cratered lunar surface is visible in the bottom right of the frame, while a small Earth and red planet hang in a black sky.

We may finally have an easy way to make water on the Moon

Lunar dust could one day quench astronauts’ thirst – and help make their fuel