Inside a cleanroom at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CADRE moon rovers prepare to launch to the lunar surface as part of a technology test for autonomous exploration

SpaceX is gearing up for the fifth launch of its massive Starship rocket, following four increasingly successful tests. What is the company hoping for, and what can we expect?

A mission to the sun’s closest neighbouring star, Alpha Centauri, could be made faster thanks to a tiny light sail punctured with billions of tiny holes

Astrophysicists aren’t sure how supermassive black holes get close enough to merge, a mystery called the final parsec problem – but an exotic form of dark matter may explain it

The Perseverance rover has found some of the most promising hints of ancient Martian life yet, but we can’t know for sure until its samples are sent back to Earth

Muscle cells that spent a week on the International Space Station revealed changes in gene expression that suggest microgravity can speed up ageing

By analysing lunar samples from NASA's Apollo missions, researchers calculated exactly when – and why – the moon was once covered with magma

To find out what happens at the centre of a black hole, we may need to consider its event horizon - and think about where we're looking from, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

To keep long-term moon residents safe from harmful radiation, lunar bases will need to be built several metres under the surface or inside caves or lava tubes

It would be tricky to burn away the outer layers of Uranus, but doing so could reveal a possible stash of gems – in this episode of Dead Planets Society, the hosts reveal a relatively simpler technique to rob the ice giant

The gas that surrounds galaxies appears to be more spread out than previously thought – and this could help solve a mystery over missing matter

Galaxies that stop making stars don’t usually start up again, but now we’ve seen one wake from the dead for the first time – and it may explain what we’ve got wrong about galaxies in the early universe

The VIPER moon rover was due to launch in 2025 but NASA has suddenly cancelled it, citing budgetary issues, despite the spacecraft being fully built

The Perseid meteor shower lasts from mid-July until the end of August, and it is one of the most impressive displays of shooting stars there is – here is your guide to spotting it

The liquid hydrocarbon seas, lakes and rivers on Titan have varying compositions and signs of active tides or currents

The official definition of a planet, which famously saw Pluto demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006, doesn't really work for worlds outside of our solar system. Now there is a fix – but Pluto is still left out

We may have finally found an entry point to the caves hidden beneath the moon’s surface, which could shield future astronauts from dangerous radiation

Alex Lupsasca plans to extend Earth's largest telescope network beyond the atmosphere with a space-based dish. It could spot part of a black hole we've never seen before – and perhaps discover new physics

When astronauts go on a spacewalk, their urine is collected by what is essentially a large diaper before being thrown away, and they have less than a litre of drinking water available - but a new kind of spacesuit could solve both issues

See some of the dazzling pictures that were shortlisted for the annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition