NZ tech company Rocket Lab has unveiled plans for a Canterbury launch pad for its revolutionary battery powered rockets.

The eclipse-like phenomenon, known as a stellar occultation, took just minutes but thick cloud in Auckland blocked the view for New Zealand and American scientists.

Govert Schilling reflects on NASA’s SOFIA aircraft's successful 8.5-hour flight from Christchurch to watch the dwarf planet Pluto pass in front of a star.

A rare glimpse of Pluto is expected to wow astronomers tomorrow morning - and those in New Zealand will have the best seats in the house.

Our country will next week offer international scientists a unique window to a quick and rare astronomical event that last occurred a decade ago.

While the floods that swamped Whanganui appeared devastating enough from aerial pictures, the view from space has offered another perspective altogether.

The International Space Station has released high-definition footage of Earth, taken from space. Source: International Space Station/Facebook

The United States space programme is famous for what it invented and also for how much it spent putting men on the moon.

A graphic designer from Sweden wants Earth to adopt its own flag for use in space.

The Russian spacecraft that went rogue yesterday has begun an unstoppable descent into Earth's atmosphere, experts have said.

Dark matter may not be so dark after all, after scientists witnessed the mysterious cosmic entity interacting with the universe around it in a new way.

Rocket Lab unveiled its turbo pump system overnight at the United States Space Symposium, a gathering of more than 10,000 involved in space technology in Colorado.

The surface of Mars may still hold water - albeit the saltiest variety possible - according to scientists, after Nasa's Curiosity rover found evidence of liquid brine on the planet.

Paul Allen and Richard Branson are focusing on breakthrough spaceflight closer to home: cheap cargo trips to Earth orbit.

A small but ambitious group of investors has a novel plan to mine asteroids for fun and profit. But it is possibly illegal.

New Zealand has been blasted as "stupid" by a top space engineer for not investing more in science and engineering.

Almost nobody was born under the sign they think they are, as the astrological calendar has failed to be updated as our position in relation to the stars has changed.

The detection of miniature black holes by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could prove the existence of parallel universes.

Scientists claim an 'imminent' collapse of the universe will take place sooner than expected, but don't panic - it still has tens of billions of years left.

The fight over lucrative contracts to launch national security satellites between SpaceX and the ULA has grown even more contentious.

Astronomers have been telling us for nearly 500 years that humanity is not the most important thing in the universe.

Nasa was last night celebrating the arrival of its space probe into the orbit of dwarf planet Ceres but Kiwi stargazers will have to wait several weeks to see any fresh footage from the Dawn probe.

Millions of tonnes of nutrient-laden dust are blown to the Amazon from one of the world's most barren places

Scientists in the Antarctic are to be trained in docking a Soyuz spacecraft on to the International Space Station as part of a series of spaceflight simulation.

Stunning shot reveals the enormity of the ISS against the darkness of space. But can you see the astronaut?

Rocket Lab has attracted new financial backing from one of the United States' oldest venture capital firms and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin to put it on course.