Karl Tate

Astronomers have detected the signatures of hundreds of comets disintegrating in a distant, chaotic solar system 63 light-years away.

In a rare celestial event, a comet will pass closer to Mars than the moon is from Earth on Oct. 19, 2014. See how the Comet Siding Spring flyby of Mars works in this Space.com infographic.

SpaceX's fourth cargo mission to the International Space Station includes some mice, the first 3D printer in space and other weird science. See our take on the cargo in this Space.com infographic.

Stars are giant fusion reactors, smashing protons together to produce energy.

SpaceX's Dragon Version 2 capsule is designed to carry seven astronauts to the International Space Station. See how it works in this Space.com infographic.

NASA's Mars 2020 mission will send a car-size rover to the Red Planet to collect samples. See how the Mars 2020 rover will work in this Space.com infographic.

The European Space Agency's ATV cargo vehicle delivers 8.3 tons of solid and liquid cargo to the International Space Station. See how the unmanned spacecraft work in this Space.com infographic.

Diagrams and NASA artwork show how Apollo astronauts flew to the moon.

Plans that have been announced in recent years for crewed space flights to the moon.

SpaceX's three-core Falcon Heavy rocket is a mega-booster that would be the largest, most powerful launch vehicle since NASA's Saturn V moon rocket. Here's how SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket works.

NASA's next-generation Z-2 spacesuit prototype is an evolution ahead of its predecessor, the Z-1. See how NASA's futuristic Z-2 spacesuit works in this Space.com infographic.

A new computer simulation produces a chunk of the universe that closely resembles the real thing.

On Beta Pictoris b, a planet still forming nearly 64 light-years away, a day lasts only 8.1 hours.

Spacecraft use multiple methods to slow down enough for a safe landing on Mars. See how Mars landings work in this Space.com infographic.

A rocky planet that could have liquid water at its surface orbits a star 490 light-years away.

Enceladus has an extensive water ocean under its icy crust, feeding water jets that emerge from near the south pole.

The moon is Earth's nearest neighbor, but its origins date back to a violent birth billions of years ago. See how the moon was made in this Space.com infographic.

In the distant inner Oort Cloud, a largely unexplored region that likely hosts millions of icy objects, astronomers are finding surprises and possibly a ninth solar system planet.

Inflation is the mysterious force that blew up the scale of the infant universe from sub-microscopic to gargantuan in a fraction of a second.

Several of the asteroids that have been spotted passing with the orbits of the moon and even Earth's communications satellites.

Space tourist Dennis Tito's daring proposal to send a married couple on a 501-day space flight around the planet Mars and back.

The GPM Core Observatory scans the weather with microwaves and two bands of radar. See how the Global Precipitation Measurement Satellite by NASA and JAXA will map rain and snow like never before.

Not quite massive enough to ignite nuclear fusion, brown dwarfs may be as common as regular stars in the universe. Here's a look at how brown dwarfs may work in a SPACE.com infographic.

For 10 years the robots have roved across Mars, making exciting discoveries about water in the planet's past.