Asteroids
Asteroid Samples Were Once Part of a Wetter World
Nine months have passed since NASA's OSIRIS-REx returned its samples of asteroid Bennu to Earth. The samples are some of…
Happy Asteroid Day! Schweickart Prize Spotlights Planetary Defense
Every year on June 30, Asteroid Day marks the anniversary of a meteor airburst in 1908 that leveled hundreds of…
Can We Use An Asteroid’s Own Dust to Deflect It?
Deflecting potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) is one of humanity's most critical long-term efforts to ensure we don't suffer the fate…
A Combination Drill and Gas Conveyor Could Simplify Asteroid Extraction
Collecting material from an asteroid seems like a simple task. In reality, it isn't. Low gravity, high rotational speeds, lack…
A Mission To Find 10 Million Near Earth Asteroids Every Year
So far, scientists have found around 34,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) that could serve as humanity's stepping stone to the stars.…
A Weather Satellite Watched a Space Rock Burn Up Above Spain and Portugal
It's been a momentous May for skywatchers around the world. First the big auroral event of May 10-11, next a…
Finding The Age Of A Contact Binary “Moon”
There are millions of asteroids floating around the solar system. With so many of them, it should be no surprise…
The Giant Planets Migrated Between 60-100 Million Years After the Solar System Formed
Untangling what happened in our Solar System tens or hundreds of millions of years ago is challenging. Millions of objects…
If We Want to Visit More Asteroids, We Need to Let the Spacecraft Think for Themselves
Missions to asteroids have been on a tear recently. Visits by Rosetta, Osirix-REX, and Hayabusa2 have all visited small bodies…
DART Changed the Shape of Asteroid Dimorphos, not Just its Orbit
On September 26th, 2022, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) collided with the asteroid Dimorphos, a moonlet that orbits the…