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An artist's concept of the ESA's Solar Orbiter and NASA's Parker Solar Probe as they undertake missions to explore the sun

Solar Orbiter: ESA / ATG medialab; Parker Solar Probe: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL
Special Report

Future of Space Exploration

From groundbreaking launches of new telescopes to missions to the sun and other planets, Smithsonian Magazine details upcoming efforts to understand the universe.

Construction of multiple telescopes has begun on Saishiteng Mountain—near the town of Lenghu in the Qinghai province of China. The site could be China’s first major observatory, on par with those in Hawaii, Chile, and the Canary Islands.

Science

Why the Tibetan Plateau Might Be the Ideal Spot for the Telescope of the Future

A team in China has identified a location that could give the Eastern Hemisphere its first major observatory

Webb’s 18 mirror segments can lock into the largest telescopic mirror humankind has ever built.

Science

The Five Big Ways the James Webb Telescope Will Help Astronomers Understand the Universe

The highly awaited observatory is set to break new ground in many areas of astronomical research

This will be the first NASA mission to Venus since 1990.

Smart News

With Two New Missions, NASA Announces Return to Venus by 2030

The projects, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, will explore the planet's past and Earth's similarities with its sister planet

Artist's rendering of

At the Smithsonian

From Floating Cities to Biodegradable Burial Pods and Flying Cars, the Smithsonian Envisions a Multitude of Futures

The Arts and Industries Building will reopen this November with a thought-provoking exploration of what lies ahead for humanity

Space Travel

A 235-foot-tall Delta IV takes off with 2.1 million pounds of thrust from its three RS-68A booster main engines, creating a magnificent light show in the sky.

Travel

See 15 Inspiring Images of Americans’ Accomplishments in Space Exploration That Will Have You Reaching for the Stars

These photographs from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest show the many ways that the nation’s brightest minds explore the great beyond with crewed spacecraft, rockets and space stations.

An illustration of all 726 solar systems depicting planets confirmed as of October 30, 2018, the end of Kepler’s life span. The colors represent each planet’s temperature, ranging from chilly dark blue to fiery red. The mission yielded so much data that scientists are still announcing new planets years later.

Science

A Blip on a Telescope in a Colorado Parking Lot Bolstered a Space Mission That Has Found Thousands of Planets … and Counting

The Kepler telescope changed how we saw the sky. It’s just one of the devices we’ve sent out beyond the reach of humans to search our solar system

From left: replicas of the Blue Origin lander, Astrolab rover, Lunar Outpost rover and the Firely orbiter. 

Smart News

NASA Unveils New Details About the Future Moon Base and the Missions Laying the Groundwork to Build It

The first three missions are targeted to launch this year. They’ll involve lunar landers developed by several aerospace companies, including Blue Origin, and deliver scientific instruments and a rover

Rhys Ifans (standing in second row) as the chief designer in "Star City," a spinoff of Apple TV's "For All Mankind" 

History

Soviet Cosmonauts Trained at Star City as They Raced to Beat America to the Moon. Now, a New TV Series Imagines What Happened Behind the Base’s Walls

Apple TV’s “Star City” takes place in a world where the space race never came to an end. A spinoff of “For All Mankind,” the show is told from the Soviet perspective

A shell that protected the Perseverance rover during its descent to Mars in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Smart News

This Microscopic Fungus Survived NASA’s Sterilization Protocols—and Is Potentially Hardy Enough to Contaminate Mars

The microbe was gathered from the agency’s clean rooms, where experts build spacecraft in carefully controlled environments. The findings reveal gaps in the agency’s procedures to prevent durable hitchhikers