SUNSET: 
Quaking Aspen Leaves Inspire Potential Power Source For Mars Rovers
A unique concept could serve as an emergency power backup for future missions.
Hayabusa 2 Finds Asteroid Ryugu Is Dark & Dry
Hayabusa 2’s asteroid Ryugu has some unexpected characteristics. In particular, its dry surface could spell trouble for current theories about how Earth obtained its water.
New Results Probe the Origin of "Ultima Thule"
As observations trickle in from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, mission scientists have new insights on how their two-lobed target formed in the Kuiper Belt.
Mars Insight's "Mole" Hits a Snag
Drilling operations for NASA's Mars Insight Lander have been put on hold as the "mole" has hit unexpected obstacles.
Israeli Lunar Lander Heads to the Moon
Israel's Beresheet lunar lander was carried to space today on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, headed for a soft landing on the Moon in April.
NASA to Explore Early Universe, Origins of Life with SPHEREX
The SPHEREX mission will create multiple surveys of the near-infrared sky that will reveal the origins of life and perhaps the universe itself.
Opportunity Reaches the End of Its Long Road
Despite months of listening, NASA has failed to pick up any signals from the stalwart Opportunity rover.
Speeding Up Plutonium Production for Space Exploration
Automation of a key process may yield an eightfold boost to U.S. plutonium production, a promising development for deep-space exploration.
Saturn Hasn’t Always Had Rings
Analyses of data from Cassini’s final days suggest the rings are a late addition and use them to solve a Saturnian mystery.
How to “See” Interstellar Space Probes
So far, humans have sent five probes into space that are or will go far beyond the solar system: the Pioneers, the Voyagers, and New Horizons. As an exercise in fun, here's how you can find those probes' locations on the sky.
China's Chang'e 4 Lands on the Lunar Farside
China's Chang'e 4 performed a historic first on January 3rd with a soft landing on the farside of the Moon.
New Views of Two-Lobed "Ultima Thule"
Images and other observations taken by the New Horizons spacecraft early on New Year's Day reveal a remarkable (but not unexpected) two-lobed object.
New Horizons Reaches "Ultima Thule"
NASA's outward-bound explorer rings in the new year with the most distant flyby in space-exploration history.
Space Missions to Watch in 2019
Multiple trips to the Moon, physics satellites, and Europe's long-awaited exoplanet explorer are among the space missions on tap for 2019.
Future Planetary Probes Can Learn from Cassini
An unusual water composition at Saturn’s moon Phoebe means that future spacecraft will have to be on the lookout for different water ratios than we are used to on Earth.
Amateurs Help Decide Juno's Path
Ahead of a decision on whether to fly the NASA spacecraft over Jupiter's Great Red Spot, hobbyists back on Earth provided crucial intel about the effects of an intruding disturbance.
Osiris-REX Finds Hints of Past Water on Asteroid Bennu
The NASA spacecraft detected signs of hydrated minerals on Bennu's surface, suggesting that the asteroid's larger parent body once hosted liquid water.
Voyager 2 Enters Interstellar Space
More than 18 billion kilometers from home, Voyager 2 has become the second probe to break through the heliopause, a tenuous boundary between the solar system and the rest of the Galaxy.
Chang'e 4 Probe Heads to the Lunar Farside
China's latest lunar mission will drop a lander and rover in one of the oldest terrains on the Moon, becoming the first craft to intentionally land on and explore the farside.
SpaceX Launches Orbiting "Sculpture in the Sky" / Comet Update
An art sculpture achieves orbit, 46P/Wirtanen becomes a naked-eye comet, and C/2018 V1 makes one last good pass.
