Space

NASA is using data it has collected from orbit and the Martian surface to seek “exploration zones” that encompass all of the features that would make up a successful human mission—a safe landing zone near water supplies that could be mined for oxygen and rocket propellant.

When five highly regarded and diverse business visionaries all bet on a similar supply chain approach, it certainly merits our attention.

Remember the point Darth Vader made to Adm. Motti during the war council scene in “Star Wars IV?” Don’t choke.

NASA stands to gain plenty for itself by helping SpaceX get to Mars. An amended Space Act Agreement makes clear the agency can use whatever it learns to land its own vehicles on Mars, it just can’t share it with any of SpaceX’s competitors.

Governments are looking for ways to work around disruptions in service, increasingly caused by proliferating equipment that can jam and spoof GPS signals.

As the International Space Station approaches the end of its service life, NASA is supporting Boeing and SpaceX efforts to build commercial crew vehicles that can take crew to the ISS and later commercial space stations. Listen is as our editors discuss those efforts.

NASA on Red Dragon Mars mission: “This is a technology demonstration of what we consider to be one of the most critical technologies for us to get humans to Mars.”

A challenging timetable has SpaceX running at top speed on preparations for upcoming flights to the International Space Station with the Crew Dragon, the human-rated version of the company’s cargo-carrying Dragon spacecraft.

The company must complete a rigorous series of tests this year and next to begin collecting fares in 2018 under its five-year, $4.2 billion NASA Commercial Crew Transportation Capability deal.

The initial group of astronauts selected to fly on commercial missions to the International Space Station are providing input about human-factors engineering to Boeing and SpaceX.

The space agency is pleased with the progress of the post-space-shuttle commercial approach to developing the spacecraft that will allow it to begin flying astronauts from U.S. soil again.

One of Aviation Week's most popular and distinguishing features has been hands-on flight reports written by the magazine’s pilots and engineers.

NASA engineers will regularly brief U.S. companies on their progress in developing techniques for on-orbit satellite servicing, hoping to spin the technology off into the private sector as quickly as possible.

One thing holds as true today as it did in 1916: It’s all about the future.

Starting 13 years after Kitty Hawk, Aviation Week has been there to document almost the entire history of the aerospace industry.

We reveal what you deem to be the top five Aviation Week covers of all time in defense, space, commercial aviation and business aviation.

A guide to the aircraft and spacecraft featured on the cover of our 100th anniversary issue and a look at the artist, Ted Williams.

First-hand observations on spaceflight, simulator missions and space suit tryouts mark Aviation Week coverage

The key to putting humans on Mars, developing supersonic and hypersonic commercial transports and introducing space tourism? Produce smarter humans. Learn how.

The head of Darpa’s Tactical Technology Office says the world is on the verge of leaps in supersonic travel, vertical takeoff and landing systems, flight proficiency and safety, space launch and awareness of space.

Aviation Week’s foray into the new arena of digital imaging led to two scoops of high-level intrigue and bargaining with the U.S. military.

Future space exploration will raise issues that we can only begin to consider today. Are the societal benefits derived from human exploration, expansion of knowledge and scientific progress worth the risk to human life of what amounts to a one-way trip to Mars?

Richard Branson has been a pioneer on many fronts, but he is especially intense when it comes to space exploration and the promise it holds for a better Earth.

While the U.S. is pushing for low Earth orbit commercialization as an impetus for deep-space exploration, others see a lunar polar base as a better bet.

The private sector could move quickly to help governments manage space surveillance and advise companies and spaceports on operating responsibly in orbit.