The solar system—our Sun’s system of planets, moons, and smaller debris—is humankind’s cosmic backyard. Small by factors of millions compared to interstellar distances, the spaces between the planets ...

The picture-perfect launch of twin Escapade orbiters bound for Mars presages a fantastical new age in exploring the planets, ...

John Casani spent more than half a century turning speculative ideas about distant worlds into working spacecraft that could survive the trip. His quiet influence at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ...

Scientists studying samples from the Bennu asteroid located not too far from Earth continue to find clues as to how life ...

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first successful planetary mission, Mariner 2 sent to Venus, the NASA History Program Office and the Division of Space History at the National Air and Space ...

A near term laser ablation of micropellets can be made to rapidly accelerate one ton space probes to reach Pluto in one year. The NASA New Horizons launched in 2006 took 9.5 years to reach Pluto and ...

Missions to the outer planets are an important and exciting part of NASA’s goals because these scarcely visited worlds, particularly the ice giants Neptune and Uranus, undoubtedly hold secrets about ...

China envisions exploring the solar system, and it seems that would happen soon. The country launched Tianwen-2, an innovative space probe tasked with retrieving samples from an uncharted asteroid and ...

Introduction: NASA's solar system exploration paradigm : the first fifty years and a look at the next fifty / James L. Green and Kristen J. Erickson -- Part I. Overview. Exploring the Solar System : ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover aerospace, astronomy & hosted The Cosmic Controversy Podcast. Artist’s concept of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft ...