Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

NASA's Lunabotics Challenge is a competition open to US college students to create robots that can build berms out of regolith to provide blast protection, shade, and shielding for lunar landings and nuclear reactors.

An asteroid the size of a commercial jet passed closer to Earth than the Moon on September 3, 2025, in a high-speed flyby that drew global attention from skywatchers and astronomers alike. According to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS),

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Thousands of newborn stars sparkle and dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. Released this week, the picture provides a breathtaking view of a nearby star-birthing center, 5,500 light-years away. A single light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, Matthew Montgomery and James Spicer — will spend a year inside a Mars habitat in the NASA Johnson Space Center starting Oct. 19.

Central Pennsylvania stargazers could be in for a special treat tonight. NASA announced it will make the latest attempt to launch three TOMEX+ sounding rockets from its flight facility in Wallops Island, VA tonight. Previous attempts have been canceled due ...

UPDATE: The rocket launch was scrubbed at about 2 a.m. Wednesday because of cloudy skies and other atmospheric conditions. NASA says it will try again between 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and 3:30 a.m. Thursday. If you’re up late Tuesday night, you’ll have a ...

NASA will announce its new astronaut class next month, and you'll be able to watch the unveiling live. The 2025 class of NASA astronaut candidates will be announced Sept. 22 during a livestreamed event at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston that begins at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT; 11:30 a.m. local time in Houston).

By the end of August, a whopping 74 orbital rockets lifted off from Florida's Space Coast. For perspective, that total surpassed the former annual record of 72 launches in 2023 — and 2024's freshly established annual record of 93 launches is also on pace to fall by the wayside.

Researchers in the Verification and Validation Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley monitor a simulated