Unmanned Space Exploration

The US space agency on Wednesday denied a claim made in a scientific study that its Voyager 1 spacecraft had left the solar system, describing the report as "premature."

More than 35 years after it launched on a mission to explore the cosmos, NASA's unmanned Voyager spacecraft appears to have left the solar system and is in a "new region" of space, said a study Wednesday.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said it signed a deal on Thursday with its Russian counterpart to launch two unmanned missions to Mars, a quest that was rocked by a US pullout last year.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said it signed a deal on Thursday with its Russian counterpart to launch two unmanned missions to Mars, a quest that was rocked by a US pullout last year.

What is thought to be the world's largest ground-based observatory opened Wednesday in northern Chile, wielding unprecedented power to peer into the remotest regions of the universe.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has been temporarily put into "safe mode," as scientists monitoring from Earth try to fix a computer glitch, the US space agency said.

The world's first space tourist, US multimillionaire Dennis Tito, unveiled plans to send a manned mission to Mars and back, targeting a launch date less than five years away.

The world's first space tourist, US multimillionaire Dennis Tito, unveiled plans Wednesday to send a manned mission to Mars and back, targeting a launch date less than five years away.

India said on Thursday it will send a $70 million space mission to Mars this year to study the red planet's atmosphere.

Japan is to send a space telescope into orbit around the Earth to observe Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, officials said on Friday, as they look to unlock the secrets of our own planet's atmosphere.

In a first, the Mars rover Curiosity has penetrated a rock on the Red Planet and collected a sample from its interior, the US space agency announced Saturday.

European probes this year will return a treasure trove of data from explorations into the Big Bang, water on Mars and climate change, European Space Agency (ESA) chief Jean-Jacques Dordain said on Thursday.

The Mars rover Curiosity will soon begin to drill into the Red Planet for the first time, mission officials said, ahead of the highly anticipated endeavor.

Astronauts chosen for a manned mission to Mars could be in serious trouble if their sleep patterns are disrupted on the lengthy journey, a 520 day simulation has found.

Long journeys into deep space, including a mission to Mars, could expose astronauts to levels of cosmic radiation harmful to the brain and accelerate Alzheimer's disease, according to a US study.

The site where twin NASA spacecraft impacted the moon on Monday has been named in honor of the late Sally Ride. The site where twin NASA spacecraft impacted the moon on Monday has been named in honor of the late Sally Ride. Ebb and Flow, the two spacecraft? comprising NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, were commanded to descend into low orbit and impact on a mountain near the moon's north pole. Ebb and Flow, which were launched in September 2011 to orbit the moon, were running out of fuel to continue their scientific missions. ?Sally was all about getting the job done, whether it be in exploring space, inspiring the next generation, or helping make the GRAIL mission the resounding success it is today,? GRAIL principal investigator Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge said in a statement. ?As we complete our lunar mission, we are proud we can honor Sally Ride's contributions by naming this corner of the moon after her.? ?Sal

The Hubble Space Telescope is giving scientists a look at the oldest galaxies ever seen, dating back some 13.3 billion years -- providing a glimpse into how the cosmos must have looked right after the Big Bang.

NASA plans to send a new rover to Mars in 2020 as it prepares for a manned mission to the Red Planet, the US space agency said Tuesday.

NASA plans to send a new rover to Mars in 2020 as it prepares for a manned mission to the Red Planet, the US space agency said.

The Mars rover Curiosity has offered a tantalizing taste of evidence that there was once life on the Red Planet, but scientists said Monday it is too soon to make much of the first soil analyses.