Mars 2020 Perseverance space mission launches from Kennedy Space Center.
CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EE
With a new president in the White House and NASA’s chief administrator resigning we can expect changes to space policy.
NASA / Tracy Caldwell Dyson
After two decades as a home to astronauts, the International Space Station still has plenty to teach us about how humans can live away from Earth.
Artist’s concept of the OSIRIS REx spacecraft collecting material from Bennu.
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Bennu will tell us about our own origins as much as about the origin of asteroid Bennu.
Shutterstock
Considering what we know about the key ingredients for life’s formation on Earth, here are three explanations for how this process may have occurred on our sister planet.
The Apollo 17 lunar lander surrounded by tyre tracks.
NASA
When it comes to managing the tussle for resources on the Moon, we might take lessons from New Zealand environmental law and TikTok ‘witches’.
Illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Perseverance rover onboard Mars
2020 is our best bet for finding life on the red planet.
Crew Dragon, carrying two astronauts, docks with the International Space Station.
NASA TV HANDOUT/EPA
Extreme velocities and temperatures makes the return flight to Earth the most perilous part of a space mission.
The Perseverance Rover (Mars 2020) installed within the upper stage of the United Launch Alliance rocket that will send it to Mars from Florida this week.
Australian scientists have been working on NASA’s latest Mars mission for years.
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Bacteria can become more deadly and antibiotic-resilient in space. And while more research is needed to figure out how severe the risks are, they could be catastrophic.
Rocket carrying the Hope probe.
MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES HAND/EPA
In just a few years, the Hope mission has boosted UAE’s economy and science capacity.
Neowise seen from the International Space Station.
NASA
Neowise has an orbit of almost 6800 years, meaning that the last generation of people to see it would have lived during the 5th millennium BC.
Star trails in the desert.
TARIQ_M_1 / Getty Images
A new country launches a mission to Mars. A space expert explains what this means for the Middle East and the African continent.
It has been estimated that there will be one surgical emergency every 2.4 years on a mission to Mars.
T. Trapp/BJS Surgery
Space agencies are seeking new ways to be prepared for a surgical emergency on a mission to Mars.
Astronauts Bob and Dough made it to the International Space Station in a privately funded vehicle.
NASA
Empathy and scientific knowledge will be key for astronauts looking to travel to Mars.
The astronauts during a dress rehearsal.
NASA/Bill Ingalls/EPA
To intercept the ISS, the capsule must match the station’s speed, altitude and inclination.
Over the last 50 years, a lot has changed in rocketry. The fuel that powers spaceflight might finally be changing too.
CSA-Printstock/DIgital Vision Vectors via Getty Images
An update of 50-year-old regulations has kickstarted research into the next generation of rockets. Powered by nuclear fission, these new systems could be the key to faster, safer exploration of space.
Space junk is making low Earth orbit crowded.
Johan Swanepoel/Shuttertock
SpaceX recently launched 60 satellites into orbit around Earth as part of its Starlink programme.
A researcher in a spacesuit on “Mars” outside the Mars Society Desert Research Station in Utah.
David Howells/Corbis Historical via Getty Images
Understanding isolation’s effects on regular people, rather than those certified to have ‘the right stuff,’ will help prepare us for the future, whether another pandemic or interplanetary space travel.
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Governments and corporations must get serious about the legal, technical, economic, social and ethical implications of a potential space-based resource economy.
The Rosalind Franklin rover.
ESA
Delay has turned space mission ExoMars2020 into ExoMars2022.