12:14 05 October 2012

About the size of a case of beer, the German-built MASCOT rover will bounce across the surface of an asteroid as part of the Hayabusa 2 mission

13:50 21 September 2012

Meteor impacts probably delivered water-bearing minerals to the space rock long ago, which may be how water arrived on early Earth

17:41 14 September 2012

The famous comet of 2011 seemed hardier than any of its fellow sungrazers – but it emerges that even Lovejoy couldn't survive the fiery beast's heat for long

INTERVIEW:  16:29 17 August 2012  | 3 comments

Asteroid mining will be difficult. There's the small matter of landing on one, for a start, says Tim Spahr

INTERVIEW:  08:00 17 August 2012  | 4 comments

For space veterans Eric Anderson and Chris Lewicki, asteroid mining will be just the start – they want to build spacecraft out of the rocks

15:21 01 August 2012  | 2 comments

The handedness of molecules might not be a strong sign of life after all, complicating the hunt for extraterrestrials

12:30 13 July 2012

Deal between space-flight companies is a sign the nascent industry could soon become self-sustaining

EDITORIAL:  15:00 06 July 2012  | 3 comments

A tiny fraction of the money spent on weapons could keep a genuine defence project from being mothballed

THIS WEEK:  10:58 06 July 2012  | 5 comments

A lack of cash is threatening the only southern sky survey dedicated to searching for Earth-grazing asteroids

15:55 29 June 2012  | 3 comments

A gigantic asteroid smashed into Greenland 3 billion years ago, making the crater it left behind the oldest on Earth – but the finding is controversial