Government research and development is limited by time, money and bureaucracy. Those limits are prompting federal agencies like NASA to reach out to private companies to drive new innovation and keep costs down.

NASA crash-landed a rocket on the moon to look for evidence of water. The collision didn't produce a notable plume as expected, but scientists are confident they have the data they need to answer their questions.

The moon isn't quite as bone-dry as once thought — instead, there is evidence for widespread water on its surface, scientists at NASA announced today. The finding could fundamentally change how many scientists think about the moon.

Seismometers on the moon, placed there by Apollo astronauts, recorded hundreds of "moonquakes" from 1969 to 1977 — even though the moon was thought to be seismically dead. But moonquakes, it turns out, may have more in common with earthquakes than once thought.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first step taken on the moon on July 20, 1969. Two new books published this year commemorate the occasion, describing different phases of the larger lunar story.

As lunar exploration gears back up, scientists are still puzzling over a longstanding challenge: How to drill into the tough lunar soil to discover what lies beneath. The solution, however, may be quite close to home.

After decades of coming up dry, scientists have found evidence that the moon's interior once held water: beads of volcanic glass from the moon's mantle contain tiny amounts of the liquid.