satellites

Thousands of pieces of space debris, also known as space junk, are orbiting Earth, with tons more added each year. This orbital debris poses a significant threat to satellites, spacecraft, astronauts — and increasingly humans on Earth.

China's experimental moon satellites Tiandu-1 and 2 are testing lunar communications and navigation tech. Recently, they shared this image of the lunar surface with a ghostly Earth in the background.

New images show a glowing "dashed" line in the night sky above Arizona after part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fell back to Earth following a double-header launch.

A theoretical new paper argues that atmospheric metal pollution from falling space junk could create an invisible conductive shield around our planet that might weaken our magnetosphere. However, other experts are skeptical of this idea.

A large swirl of white light that temporarily outshone vibrant auroras in the Arctic last week was triggered by the death throes of a SpaceX rocket that deployed more than 50 satellites into space.

New radar images show surprise changes to the doomed ERS-2 spacecraft as it tumbled through Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 21.

The European Space Agency's ERS-2 Earth observation satellite was spotted in space as it prepares to make a fiery reentry into Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 21.

Private companies like SpaceX are crowding Earth's atmosphere with ever-increasing numbers of satellite 'megaconstellations'. For astronomers, the toll of these bright, ubiquitous objects is already painfully clear.

When a satellite runs out of fuel, it becomes little more than space junk. Now, space agencies and private companies want to change that. Here's how scientists plan to refuel satellites — in orbit.

A communications glitch is preventing NASA's Voyager 1 probe — the farthest spacecraft from Earth in history — from sending home data, and mission scientists are growing concerned.