A Japanese construction company is proposing to solve the energy problems facing Japan, and ultimately the entire planet, by turning the moon into a solar power plant.

Once billed as the comet of the century, Comet ISON apparently was no match for the sun.

Comet ISON is teasing the solar system as it dances with the sun and it's giving astronomers mixed signals.

For months, all eyes in the sky have pointed at the comet that's zooming toward a blisteringly close encounter with the sun.

Astronomers call it the monster. It was the biggest and brightest cosmic explosion ever witnessed. Had it been closer, Earth would have been toast.

A visiting comet could disintegrate when it runs a scorching gauntlet past the sun, treating star-gazers to a flashy spectacle.

The Maven spacecraft blasted off aboard an unmanned rocket from Cape Canaveral this morning NZT). It will take Maven 10 months to reach Mars following a journey of more than 440 million miles.

The European Space Agency says its GOCE research satellite will crash to Earth on Sunday night or during the day on Monday, but debris is unlikely to cause any casualties.

A one-tonne satellite operated by the European Space Agency has run out of fuel and will fall back to Earth in an unknown location sometime in the next few days.

Scientists studying the terrifying meteor that exploded without warning over a Russian city last winter say the threat of space rocks smashing into Earth is bigger than they thought.

The Curse of Mars also applies to Asian countries, writes Gwynne Dyer. About two-thirds of the attempted missions to Mars have failed, many of them even before leaving Earth's orbit.

India has launched its first spacecraft bound for Mars, a complex mission that it hopes will demonstrate and advance technologies for space travel.

The Milky Way galaxy is teeming with Earth-like planets that are not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist at their surface - and so be capable of supporting life.

Space is vast, but it may not be so lonely after all: A study finds the Milky Way is teeming with billions of planets that are about the size of Earth, orbit stars just like our sun, and exist in the Goldilocks zone.

India is aiming to join the world's deep-space pioneers with a journey to Mars that it hopes will showcase its technological ability to explore the solar system while seeking solutions for everyday problems on Earth.

An Iranian newspaper is reporting that the Islamic Republic plans to send another monkey into space within a month.

NASA's Jupiter-bound spacecraft hit a snag soon after it used Earth as a gravity slingshot to hurtle toward the outer solar system, but mission managers said it's on course to arrive at the giant planet in 2016.

Some prominent American astronomers are boycotting a meeting on exoplanets because Nasa has banned Chinese scientists from attending.

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American lifted off today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, soaring into the night sky for a six-hour trip to the International Space Station.

Japan successfully launched a new rocket Saturday that it hopes will be a cheaper and more efficient way of sending satellites into space.

NASA's Voyager 1 probe has left the solar system, boldly going where no machine has gone before.

More than 200,000 people from 140 countries have applied to be the first human settlers on Mars, the group behind the project to colonise the red planet has said.