News Archive / Tagged: Asteroid

• Psyche asteroid mission will miss its 2022 launch window

  Cullen DesforgesJune 25th, 2022

  Citing testing delays, NASA has made the decision to postpone the highly anticipated Psyche mission to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name.

• Asteroid naming contest sparks discussion of women in astronomy

  Laurel KornfeldJanuary 26th, 2021

  The selection of the late astronomer Ada Amelia Carrera Rodriguez as the winner of an asteroid-naming contest sparked an online panel discussion by the contest's sponsors about the role of women in astronomy.

• OSIRIS-REx capsule closed following successful Bennu sample collection

  Laurel KornfeldNovember 1st, 2020

  NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft collected enough soil samples of the asteroid Bennu on its first attempt that mission controllers commanded the spacecraft to close its Sample Return Capsule (SRC).

• Design phase begins for Psyche mission to metal asteroid

  Laurel KornfeldJune 13th, 2019

  NASA's Psyche mission to a unique metal asteroid has attained the important milestone of being approved to begin spacecraft design and construction.

• European MASCOT spacecraft successfully lands on asteroid Ryugu

  Tomasz NowakowskiOctober 5th, 2018

  An asteroid that could strike Earth is being studied by spacecraft, landers and rovers to provide clues about this potential threat.

• Increase in ‘Oumuamua’s speed through the solar system reveals it to be a comet

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 3rd, 2018

  Scientists observing the path of 'Oumuamua,' the first known interstellar object to pass through the solar system, discovered it to be traveling faster than expected, leading them to conclude it is actually a comet that received a boost in speed through outgassing.

• Tiny asteroid disintegrates hours after being discovered

  Jim SharkeyJune 7th, 2018

  On Saturday, June 1 a boulder-sized asteroid designated 2018 LA was discovered and determined to be on a collision course with Earth, with impact predicted to be just a few hours later. The event proved that Earth is still in the cosmic shooting gallery and could be struck with little-to-no notice.

• Newly discovered house-sized asteroid 2018 CB to zip close by Earth

  Tomasz NowakowskiFebruary 9th, 2018

  A newly detected house-sized asteroid, designated 2018 CB, is slated to fly by Earth on Friday, February 9, at around 22:30 UTC, with a velocity estimated at being some 26,000 mph (58,000 km/h).

• Swarm of nanosatellites could visit over 300 asteroids

  Tomasz NowakowskiNovember 12th, 2017

  European scientists have proposed a mission consisting of 50 tiny spacecraft, which could visit and study over 300 asteroids in a timespan of just over three years. The concept, named Asteroid Touring Nanosat Fleet, was presented at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2017 that took place in September in Riga, Latvia.

• Industry expert: Asteroid mining could begin within the next 10–20 years

  Tomasz NowakowskiOctober 31st, 2017

  Mining the countless space rocks found in our Solar System for valuable resources could become a reality within two decades. This is according to J.L. Galache of Aten Engineering. However, he cautions that there are still many challenges that must first be overcome to make it happen that quickly.

• Close approach of asteroid 2012 TC4 poses no danger to Earth

  Tomasz NowakowskiOctober 11th, 2017

  The house-sized asteroid 2012 TC4 is slated to give Earth a close shave on Thursday, October 12, 2017, at 05:42 UTC (1:42 a.m. EDT), swooshing by our planet at a distance of about 31,161 miles (50,150 kilometers). Although there were some worries that this rocky object could hit the Earth, latest observations confirm that it poses no danger to our home planet at all.

• Newly discovered football field-sized asteroid to pass by Earth on Monday

  Tomasz NowakowskiSeptember 23rd, 2017

  A newly detected football field-sized asteroid, designated 2017 RW1, is slated to miss our planet on Monday, September 25, 2017. The space rock, estimated to be 34–110 meters in diameter, is expected to fly by Earth at a distance of approximately 10.9 lunar distances (LD), or 4.19 million kilometers.

• Giant asteroid crashed into Mars billions of years ago, study suggests

  Tomasz NowakowskiJuly 24th, 2017

  The complex geology of Mars and the origin of its two small irregular moons has mystified planetary scientists for some time. A new study, published in June in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, reveals that the Red Planet had suffered a giant asteroid collision nearly four-and-a-half billion years ago which could account for some of Mars' geological oddities.

• MIT students studying mission to asteroid Apophis

  Bart LeahyJune 10th, 2017

  Apophis, an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier, will make a close approach to Earth in 2029. It will come within approximately 18,300 miles (29,500 kilometers), less than one-tenth the distance from Earth to the Moon. A group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is designing a mission to study the asteroid up close as it passes by.

• OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite to unveil the real nature of asteroid Bennu

  Tomasz NowakowskiMay 4th, 2017

  NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on its way to uncovering the secrets of an intriguing carbonaceous asteroid named Bennu, which holds many clues about the formation of the Sun and planets. With the help of its imaging system, the probe is expected to deliver crucial insights into the real nature of this rocky body, improving our understanding of the evolution of the Solar System.