Phobos, Mars' small rocky moon, has been imaged closer than ever before by the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. In the latest of its five month period orbital flybys, the Mars Express passed the moon at a distance of 67km, the closest any probe has managed in history. The results are equally as stunning, with these 4.4-metres per pixel images clearly showing the far side of Phobos, illuminating its crater-heavy, rocky nature. The images also helped show where the Russian-led 2011 Phobos-Grunt mission to land on the ...

This video acts as a basic introduction to how NASA's Ares 1 launch system will carry Orion crew exploration vehicles into space. The Ares 1 and Orion are part of NASA's Constellation program, which upon the termination of its outgoing Space Shuttle fleet (currently scheduled for September 2010), will take over as the main spacecraft for human spaceflight. The Ares 1-X, which can be seen modeled in this video, was the prototype for the project and ...

The Soyuz spacecraft that was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has docked with the International Space Station. The spacecraft brings with it three more astronauts to live and work on the Space Station, with one from America, Russia and Japan. To watch the docking is real time you can visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8427571.stm To learn more about life on board the International Space Station pick up issue three of How It Works magazine, on sale from the 31st of December at all good newsagents, supermarkets and WHSmiths.

They may not be as interesting as the moons around Uranus but Saturn's rings do bear further investigation... Saturn – The Roche lobe causes gravitational forces around Saturn to hold rocky particles Inner rings – Inner rings are made up of rock particles that never formed into a moon Outer rings – Outer rings are caused by geysers in the south pole of Saturn Why does Saturn have rings but other planets do not? The answer has to do with something called ...