Asteroids
NASA Launches DART, to Learn how to Defend the Earth From a Future Asteroid Impact
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) just launched and will intercept a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) in ten months!
Early Earth was Pummeled 10x More Than Previously Estimated
It’s no secret that Earth was bombarded with plenty of meteors for billions of years during the solar system’s early…
Uh oh, one of Lucy’s Solar Arrays Hasn’t Latched Properly
As we’re fond of saying here at UT, space exploration is hard. Many things can go wrong when launching thousands…
Lucy is off to Visit Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids
NASA's Lucy spacecraft is on its way. The spacecraft was launched into space on Saturday, October 16th on an Atlas…
What Are Your Options When you’ve Only Got Hours or Days to Prevent an Asteroid Impact?
Imagine a scenario where we detect an asteroid heading straight for Earth. Imagine that it will arrive in a couple…
NASA’s Mission to Visit 8 Asteroids, Lucy, Launches on October 16th
An early morning launch is planned for the Lucy spacecraft, the first space mission to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. Tomorrow,…
Images of 42 of the Biggest Asteroids in the Solar System
A huge team of astronomers have combined forces to use the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) to…
You Can Blow Up an Asteroid Just a few Months Before it Hits Earth and Prevent 99% of the Damage
So far, the battle between life on Earth and asteroids has been completely one-sided. But not for long. Soon, we'll…
This Object is Both an Asteroid and a Comet
In astronomy, comets and asteroids are defined very differently. Comets have a “nucleus,” usually made of ice and dust, and…
There are Many Metal-Rich Asteroids Nearby to Investigate
Usually, when the topic of asteroid mining comes up, thoughts turn to the riches of the asteroid belt between Mars…