space

Scientists have detected all five canonical nucleobases in pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu, the first confirmation of a complete set of DNA and RNA building blocks in material collected directly from space.

Two March discoveries reveal a 10-billion-year-old lava world with a thick atmosphere and a sulfur-dominated planet unlike anything in existing classification systems.

A 30-fold expansion of the solar-twin catalog shows the Sun migrated 10,000 light-years outward from the galactic center between four and six billion years ago, carried by the forming central bar.

A University of Washington team identifies signs of a catastrophic planetary collision around star Gaia20ehk, offering the first real-time analog of the giant impact that created Earth's Moon 4.5 billion years ago.

The 1,300-pound radiation belt spacecraft burned up over the eastern Pacific Ocean on March 11, ending a 14-year journey that began with a two-year mission and yielded the discovery of a transient third radiation belt around Earth.

South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope has discovered a record-breaking hydroxyl gigamaser in a merging galaxy system, shattering the previous distance record by a factor of two.

Chinese Academy of Sciences spinoff CAS Space will attempt the first launch of its Kinetica-2 kerosene-LOX rocket from Jiuquan, carrying a prototype cargo spacecraft for the Tiangong space station.

Six months of observations of the third interstellar object ever detected have uncovered water, methane, and hydrogen cyanide in its coma--and a Jupiter flyby on March 16 could yield the closest-ever look at an interstellar visitor.

SpaceX is preparing to launch Starship Flight 12 in mid-March 2026, the first test of upgraded Block 3 vehicles powered by 33 Raptor 3 engines and the debut of Orbital Launch Pad 2.

Europe's Ariane 6 flew its four-booster configuration for the first time, delivering 32 Amazon Leo satellites in the heaviest payload ever launched by a European rocket.

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 mission is confirmed for February 11 after FAA clears Falcon 9 following a second-stage anomaly, while a historic policy change will let astronauts carry personal smartphones into orbit for the first time.

A liquid hydrogen leak halted the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal, pushing the first crewed Moon flight since 1972 to no earlier than March 6.