The Cassini-Huygens mission has identified an oxygen-carbon dioxide atmosphere around Saturn's second-biggest moon, Rhea - the first time a spacecraft has captured an oxygen atmosphere from a world other than Earth.
Russian space contractor RSC Energia has confirmed plans for the design of advanced space modules that will be powered by nuclear-based propulsion systems.
The last flight for space shuttle Discovery is looking increasingly likely to be pushed back to next year, as engineers battle to carry out a series of repairs.
The European Space Agency has decided to give a new lease of life to 11 of its operating space science missions. All are coming to the end of their funding - but still delivering important scientific results.
Rather appropriately for the time of year, NASA's EPOXI team says that the mission's recent encounter with comet Hartley 2 observed a flurry of snow streaming out from the comet.
Scientists are examining the feasibility of constructing hopping vehicles powered by radioactive material to more effectively explore the rugged surface of Mars.
While looking for something else entirely, Harvard-Smithsonian astronomers have discovered several double-star systems which are merging, and which may explode as supernovae in the astronomically near future.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is turning its focus once again on some of the stars that were its very first targets back in 1960.
At a time when NASA's been fighting for every penny, an independent review panel has found that the James Webb Space telescope - the planned replacement for Hubble - is running one-third over its $5 billion budget and will likely be a year late.
