The Star Wars series featured a man-made planet called the Death Star which destroys other worlds with a giant laser.

Mythical planets, nearby Earth-like worlds and unprecedented missions to Jupiter and Saturn. We learned a lot about our universe in 2016.

New research from NASA suggests that liquid water once existed on Mars and the dwarf planet Ceres - important clues in the search for past or present life.

Mozart may enhance a man's performance in board games - while AC/DC may hinder their chances, according to new research.

Worlds with the mass of Neptune are the most likely planet to form in the icy outer realms of planetary systems, scientists have found in a pioneering new study co-authored by Kiwi researchers.

Speaking out for the first time since he was evacuated from Antarctica, the former astronaut admits he didn't want to give up his goal of reaching the South Pole.

It sounds like an idea that should remain firmly in the realm of Hollywood but NASA thinks one day we might need to nuke any Earth-bound asteroids to save humanity.

As 2016 draws to a close, the NZ Science Media Centre picked some of the biggest national and international science stories that made headlines

The Rocket Lab's first stage booster rocket has passed a trial putting the company closer to the test launch of its Electron vehicle

Hollywood has long been fascinated with the idea of communicating with space aliens. But is it even possible? Or wise?

"They were glowing balls flying through the air."

The same question has been bothering Star Wars fans ever since the original film's release. There may finally be an answer.

Former senator John Glenn, an American war hero who went on to become the first astronaut to orbit the Earth, has passed away at the age of 95.

SpaceX is completing "the final steps necessary to safely and reliably return to flight".

Source: Virgin Galactic. More than two years after one of its spacecrafts crashed, killing the co-pilot, Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo back in the air this weekend for its first "glide flight." Taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port on Saturday morning, the spacecraft flew for about an hour tethered to the belly of its mothership, known as WhiteKnightTwo. Then pilots released the spacecraft, which did not fire its engines but glided safely down back to the ground.

WATCH: Virgin Galactic performs an unpowered "glide flight" of SpaceShipTwo before landing safely.

The former astronaut, who became ill while visiting Antarctica, has been told to rest up in Christchurch while congestion in his lungs clears.

Amazing NASA photos have revealed new land off the coast of Kaikoura, raised out of ocean the by last month's 7.8 magnitude earthquake

New Zealand is pumping more cash into the world's most ambitious science and IT project, bringing its investment in the gigantic Square Kilometre Array to more than $2 million.

NASA is calling on the public for help in solving a very important, but slightly less glamourous issue.

Android users are more honest than iPhone users, researchers have found, in a study revealing what our choice of smartphones say about us.

Should we go to Mars? A new docu-drama makes a "mind-blowing" case to answer with a yes, writes Calum Henderson.

Meet the aspiring 'Martian' willing to give up her life to be the first woman on Mars.

COMMENT: The question of whether there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe has been asked by people for many years.

It's impossible. But science appears to say it's happening. A prototype space engine seems to be producing energy from nothing.

Trump has said he wants to send people back to the moon, slashing Nasa's climate change budget.

The new ISS crew members are NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russia's Oleg Novitskiy and France's Thomas Pesquet.

A chance to meet the world's most famous living moon walker was not living up to any of my wildly unrealistic hopes and expectations.

no vid FULL MOON: A picture of the moon taken by photographer Cynthia Qiu. PHOTO/CYNTHIA QIU 141116ACW01bop Local astronomers and p

Microbiologist Steve Pointing has searched for life in the world's most extreme deserts. His findings will help Nasa prove that life once existed on Mars.