Space exploration and technology have seen significant advances in the most recent decade, in no small part due to private space travel and research.

These organizations are pushing the limit of aerospace technologies to provide new opportunities and freedoms for technologies beyond Earth’s orbit. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin have reinvigorated the field, with reusable rockets, space tourism, satellite internet and other advances.

Meanwhile, a return to the moon and further considerations for a trip to Mars continue to become realistic targets for government and private space agencies alike. And despite shrinking budgets, scientific drones and missions continue to yield new understanding about the environment beyond the exosphere.

The current era of space travel and engineering has never been more exciting.

Upcoming content

• What to make of UAPs and UFOs
• After dramatic failure, this SpaceX launch will be biggest yet
• Solving the hazard of falling rocket debris
• These 5 NASA technologies will deliver us to Mars
• How to navigate around satellites and space junk

From the archives

• Tour a 3D map of Mars (April 2023)
• TechInsights Teardown: SpaceX Starlink Internet Kit (December 2022)
• Will robots replace NASA astronauts? (December 2022)
• The sensors powering NASA's martian rover (April 2021)
• Watch the hot fire test of NASA's largest launch rocket (March 2021)
• Watch James Webb space telescope deploy its solar array (December 2021)