Once regarded as a futuristic technology that would be exploited by robots to take over the world, artificial intelligence is rapidly growing in scope and capabilities. Automakers, for one, are putting it to use to create advanced concepts and production vehicles. And Italian supercar builder Maserati is harnessing the technology to set world records. This month, an AI-controlled Maserati MC20 reached 197.7 miles per hour at Kennedy Space Center. The Maserati obliterated the previous record set by an Indy Autonomous Challenge AV-21 racecar set in 2022 by nearly five full seconds, an impressive feat for a robot-driven car.

The Pentagon is usually scant on any details about the X-37B, its top secret space plane that flies up to 500 miles above Earth. But the Department of Defense has now revealed that the unmanned craft is about to execute a'first-of-a-kind' manoeuvre to alter its orbit. It's thought the novel exercise will let it evade detection by hostile nations and perform secretive'low-passes' over Earth. The Boeing-built vehicle, roughly the size of a small bus and resembling a miniature space shuttle, has been launched seven times since 2010. Although the exact purpose of the ship is a guarded secret by the US Space Force, it's thought to carry spy equipment, satellites or even weaponry. X-37 is a reusable robotic spacecraft manufactured by Boeing for the US government.

It's been just over 21 years since one of the darkest days in NASA's history. On the morning of February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana. The seven astronauts aboard – David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool and Ilan Ramon – all lost their lives. The tragic event is being retold for a BBC Two documentary series airing from this week on BBC Two, 'The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth'. MailOnline has revealed a step-by-step graphic showing exactly what went wrong on that fateful morning, which changed NASA forever.

The US military's secretive X-37B robot spaceplane blasted off from Florida on Thursday night on its seventh mission, the first launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of delivering it to a higher orbit than ever before. The Falcon Heavy, composed of three liquid-fueled rocket cores strapped together, roared off its launch pad from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in a spectacular liftoff carried live on a SpaceX webcast. The launch followed more than two weeks of false starts and delays attributed to poor weather and unspecified technical issues, leading ground crews to roll the spacecraft back to its hangar before proceeding with Thursday's flight. It came two weeks after China's own robot spaceplane, the Shenlong, or'Divine Dragon,' was launched on its third mission to orbit since 2020, adding a new twist to the growing US-Sino rivalry in space. The Pentagon has disclosed scant details about the X-37B mission, conducted by the US Space Force under the military's National Security Space Launch program.

The US military's secretive X-37B robotic spaceplane has taken off from Florida on its seventh mission. The mission marks the first time the plane has been launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of delivering it into a higher orbit than ever before. The Falcon Heavy, made up of three rocket cores strapped together, roared off its launch pad from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday in a spectacular nighttime lift-off that was streamed live. The US launch comes two weeks after China's own robot spaceplane, known as the Shenlong, or Divine Dragon, was launched on its third mission into orbit since 2020, adding a new twist to the two countries' growing rivalry in space. The Pentagon has disclosed few details about the X-37B mission, which is expected to last for years and is being conducted by the US Space Force under the military's National Security Space Launch programme.

NASA has shared new photos of the incredible moment the Orion space capsule returned to Earth after flying around the moon. The unmanned Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, at 09:40 PST (17:40 GMT) on Sunday. Since its launch in mid-November, it has travelled more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the moon and back to Earth. The images show before and after the historic point of impact, which marks the first part of Artemis – NASA's successor to the Apollo programme in the 1960s and 1970s. NASA's Orion Capsule descends toward splash down after a successful uncrewed Artemis 1 Moon Mission on December 11, 2022 seen from aboard the USS Portland in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California, Mexico Artemis 1 is NASA's uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, which launched on November 16 from Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida.

NASA's Artemis programme is already breaking records, less than two weeks after its very first spaceflight launched. The agency has confirmed its Artemis 1 Orion capsule smashed the record for the furthest distance travelled from Earth by any craft designed to carry humans. At 08:40 EST (13:40 GMT) on Saturday (November 26), Orion reached 248,655 miles from Earth, beating the record set by Apollo 13 in April 1970. Then, at 16:06 EST (21:06 GMT) on Saturday, it reached the farthest point in its orbit – a maximum distance of 268,553 miles. Artemis 1 is an uncrewed test flight for NASA's Artemis programme, comprising the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

SpaceX successfully launches NASA astronauts from Kennedy Space Center into space. NASA's ambitious lunar program Artemis will send the agency's first mobile robot to the moon in late 2023. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, also known as VIPER, would search the planet for ice and other resources on and below its surface that could potentially be harvested for long-term exploration in the future. WHO GETS TO BE AN ASTRONAUT DURING THE PRIVATE SPACEFLIGHT BOOM? Using the first-ever headlights on a lunar rover, VIPER will explore the lunar South Pole and "permanently" dark regions of the moon – some of the coldest areas in the solar system.

Genetically-edited'mighty mice' are being sent up to the International Space Station today as experts investigate how to limit muscle and bone loss in low gravity. Tweaked to have enhanced muscle growth, the ripped rodents will ride on-board a ship being launched by Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX. The mission had been scheduled to launch yesterday, but rough winds detected in the upper atmosphere forced a one-day delay for safety reasons. Lift-off of the Falcon 9 rocket is now expected to take place at 12:29 EST (19:29 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's'Dragon' capsule will go on to dock with the space station on Sunday.

Incredible footage released by NASA has revealed the space agency's attempts to push its Orion spacecraft's engines to their limits, ahead of a planned 2024 manned mission to the moon dubbed Artemis. In the latest of an on-going series of tests, engineers conducted a continuous 12-minute firing of Orion's propulsion system. Orion is a capsule designed to carry humans to the moon and bring them back safely and the test simulated an abort-to-orbit scenario, in which the second stage of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket fails. Maggot leaps itself into the air'to catapult to safety' Samsung unveils Galaxy Note10's S Pen that offers greater control Huawei unveils its new'Harmony' phone operating system'Choose truth over facts!' Biden flubs line in Iowa speech Incredible footage released by NASA has revealed the space agency's attempts to push its Orion spacecraft's engines to their limits (pictured), ahead of a planned 2024 manned mission to the moon dubbed Artemis Under ideal conditions the SLS rocket would blast the Orion spacecraft - which will carry astronauts and their supplies - into orbit around the moon. Part of this process involves the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) firing, blasting the Orion capsule away from the rocket behind it.