Asteroids
It’s Time to Decide. Where Should OSIRIS-REx Take a Sample from Bennu?
NASA's OSIRIS-REx arrived at asteroid Bennu in December 2018. During the past year, it's been imaging the surface of the…
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Could Find More of Earth’s Transient Moons
A team of astronomers estimates that the LSST (which will be operational in 2020) will allow us to learn more…
It’s Time for Hayabusa-2 to Come Home
Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is on its way home. The asteroid-visiting, sample-return mission departed asteroid Ryugu (162173 Ryugu) on Wednesday,…
Comets and Interstellar Objects Could be Exporting Earth Life Out into the Milky Way
A new study suggests that comets and asteroids that graze Earth's atmosphere might be responsible for the spread of life…
Hayabusa 2 Has Sent its Last Rover to Ryugu
Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission to asteroid Ryugu has reached one of its final milestones, if not its climax. The sample-return…
This Summer’s Asteroid Near-Miss Helped Greenlight NASA’s NEOCam Mission to Search the Skies for Killer Spacerocks
Last July, a once-in-a-lifetime event happened. Not the good kind; the football-field-sized-asteroid near-miss kind. And that near miss is the…
Hayabusa 2 has one Last Lander it’s Going to Throw at Ryugu
JAXA recently released photos of their Hayabusa2 mission deploying target markers to the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.
A Distant Asteroid Collision Gave Earthly Biodiversity An Ancient Boost
About 466 million years ago, there was an asteroid collision in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The collision…
Metallic Asteroids Might Have Had Volcanoes Erupting Molten Iron. That’s So Metal
Remember the asteroid Psyche? It's the largest known asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It's been in…
Europe and US are Going to Try and Deflect an Asteroid
The ESA and NASA are getting closer to mounting the AIDA mission, which will will test the effectiveness of asteroid…