What You Need To Know About Asteroids and Other Near-Earth Objects
Have burning questions about asteroids? NASA experts have answers! (Spoiler Alert: none of them will hit Earth.) Our solar system is littered with asteroids and…
Asteroid
Planetary Defense: NASA Prepares To Launch DART To Deflect Asteroid With Kinetic Impact
Team members of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) have filled the spacecraft with fuel, have performed many of the final tests, and are running…
We Asked a NASA Scientist: What Are the Trojan Asteroids? [Video]
What are the Trojan asteroids? These mysterious space rocks have been gravitationally trapped in Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun for billions of years and hold…
Planetary Defense: Nuclear Explosion Can Disrupt Hazardous Asteroid To Protect the Earth
If an asteroid is determined to be on an Earth-impacting trajectory, scientists typically want to stage a deflection, where the asteroid is gently nudged by…
Bennu and Ryugu Asteroids: Diamonds in the Sky
Bennu and Ryugu are two rubble-pile asteroids that were recently photographed by unmanned spacecrafts. Both asteroids have a distinctive diamond shape, the formation of which…
NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission Helps Solve a Mystery: Why Are Some Asteroid Surfaces Rocky?
Scientists thought Bennu’s surface was like a sandy beach, abundant in fine sand and pebbles, which would have been perfect for collecting samples. Past telescope…
We Asked a NASA Scientist: Does NASA Know About All the Asteroids? [Video]
Does NASA know about ALL the asteroids? Not exactly. We know about the vast majority of larger ones and none of those pose an impact…
New Earth Bombardment Model: How Asteroid and Comet Strikes May Have Delayed Evolution of the Atmosphere
Study finds collisions that stalled oxygen growth on planet more common than thought. Between 2.5 and 4 billion years ago, a time known as the…
Planetary Defense: Physicists Propose New Way To Defend Earth Against Cosmic Impacts
Is Planetary Defense PI in the Sky? In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock…
NASA’s Daring Lucy Mission to Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids Poised To Launch
SwRI’s Levison, Olkin lead the mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is encapsulated in a protective fairing atop an Atlas V rocket, awaiting…
NASA’s Lucy 12-Year Mission to Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids Launches This Week – How To Watch It Live
On October 16, 2021, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will begin its journey to visit a record-breaking number of asteroids. The 12-year mission starts from NASA’s Kennedy…
Fastest Orbiting Asteroid Discovered Using the Powerful 570-Megapixel Dark Energy Camera
About a kilometer across, space rock 2021 PH27 is the Sun’s nearest neighbor. Using the powerful 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile, astronomers recently…
Asteroid Bennu’s Surface Surprised Scientists – Here’s the Reason for the Mysterious Lack of Fine Regolith
Using data from NASA OSIRIS-REx mission, a University of Arizona-led team of scientists concluded that asteroids with highly porous rocks, such as Bennu, should lack…
NASA’s Lucy Mission To Explore the Jupiter Trojan Asteroids – “It’s Almost Like We’re Traveling Back in Time”
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will launch in October 2021 on a 12-year journey to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. The Lucy mission will include three Earth gravity assists…
NASA To Launch Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission – Preventing a Hazardous Asteroid From Striking Earth
NASA is ready for the upcoming launch of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, an evaluation of technologies for preventing a hazardous asteroid from…
NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft To Explore Unique Asteroid for Clues to Early Solar System
Set to launch next year, NASA’s Psyche mission marks the first time the agency has set out to explore an asteroid richer in metal than…
“Mini Psyches” Give Insights Into Mysterious Metal-Rich Near-Earth Asteroids That Could One Day Be Mined
New research into metal-rich asteroids reveals information about the origins and compositions of these rare bodies that could one day be mined. Metal-rich near-Earth asteroids,…
Asteroid Ryugu Sample Brought Back to Earth Gets a Close-Up Look
Brown scientists are analyzing a tiny chunk of the asteroid Ryugu in an effort to better understand the early history of the solar system. In…
