Asteroids

Comets
Asteroids
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Planetary Science
The Sun & Solar Physics
New research led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California has revealed the identity of a puzzling near-Earth object by precisely tracking its motion through space and using powerful observatories that image faint celestial objects.
Posted July 16, 2026
Ames Research Center
Asteroids
Astromaterials
Goddard Space Flight Center
Johnson Space Center
Meteors & Meteorites
A meteorite recovered immediately upon its fall to Earth on July 16, 2024, is helping NASA scientists uncover new clues about ancient water, the chemical evolution of primitive asteroids, and the ingredients that may have helped make life possible throughout the early solar system.
Posted July 15, 2026
Mars
Asteroids
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Perseverance (Rover)
Planetary Science
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has uncovered evidence that a 245-foot-thick (75-meter-thick) stack of ancient rock on the rim of Jezero Crater was built by repeated asteroid impacts. Referred to as the “Broom Point member” by the rover’s science team, this sequence of layered bedrock is likely more than 3.9 billion years old, making it among […]
Posted July 15, 2026
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
Lucy
Missions
NASA Centers & Facilities
NASA Directorates
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science & Research
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
Trojan Asteroids
Even small asteroids lead complex lives. During its flyby of the asteroid Donaldjohanson last year, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft revealed the asteroid to be a wobbly, peanut-shaped body that has undergone a lot of activity in its relatively short history.
Posted June 18, 2026
Psyche Mission
Asteroids
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars
Psyche Asteroid
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used a gravity assist from Mars to provide a critical boost in speed and to adjust the spacecraft’s orbital plane without using any onboard propellant, sending it on its way toward […]
Posted May 19, 2026
Asteroids
Bennu
These X-ray computed tomography (XCT) scans released on March 17, 2026, give us a glimpse inside asteroid Bennu. They show the most common types of crack networks observed in Bennu samples; these networks solved a mystery that baffled NASA for years.
Posted March 17, 2026
Asteroids
Astromaterials
Bennu
Goddard Space Flight Center
Johnson Space Center
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
In one of the biggest surprises of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, its target asteroid, Bennu, turned out to be a jagged, rugged world covered in large boulders, with few of the smooth patches of sandy or pebbly material scientists had expected based on observations with Earth-based instruments.
Posted March 17, 2026
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
Asteroids
Astronomy
Didymos & Dimorphos
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)
New research reveals that when NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in September 2022, it didn’t just change the motion of Dimorphos around its larger companion, Didymos; the crash also shifted the orbit of both asteroids around the Sun.
Posted March 6, 2026
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
Lucy
Missions
NASA Centers & Facilities
NASA Directorates
Planetary Science Division
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
Trojan Asteroids
The IAU (International Astronomical Union), a global naming authority for celestial objects, has approved official names for features on Donaldjohanson, an asteroid NASA’s Lucy spacecraft visited on April 20.
Posted September 16, 2025
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