Asteroids

OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)
Asteroids
Astrobiology
Astromaterials
Bennu
Goddard Space Flight Center
Johnson Space Center
Planetary Science
The Solar System
Scientists have eagerly awaited the opportunity to dig into the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) pristine asteroid Bennu sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission since it was delivered to Earth last fall.
Posted June 26, 2024
Asteroids
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
Missions
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
NASA has selected 12 participating scientists to join ESA’s (European Space Agency) Hera mission, which is scheduled to launch in October 2024. Hera will study the binary asteroid system Didymos, including the moonlet Dimorphos, which was impacted by NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft on Sept. 26, 2022.
Posted June 25, 2024
Asteroids
General
The Solar System
Images from the November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft show a trough on Dinkinesh where a large piece — about a quarter of the asteroid — suddenly shifted, a ridge, and a separate contact binary satellite (now known as Selam). Scientists say this complicated structure shows that Dinkinesh and Selam have […]
Posted May 29, 2024
Apophis
Asteroids
Missions
OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer)
The Solar System
Uncategorized
Mission engineers were confident NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft could weather its closest ever pass of the Sun on Jan. 2, 2024.
Posted May 28, 2024
Psyche Mission
Asteroids
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Psyche Asteroid
The Solar System
The spacecraft already is beyond the distance of Mars and is using ion propulsion to accelerate toward a metal-rich asteroid, where it will orbit and collect science data. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft passed its six-month checkup with a clean bill of health, and there’s no holding back now.
Posted May 22, 2024
Asteroids
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Citizen Science
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Missions
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
Like boulders, rocks, and pebbles scattered across a landscape, asteroids come in a wide range of sizes. Cataloging asteroids in space is tricky because they are faint and they don’t stop to be photographed as they zip along their orbits around the Sun. Astronomers recently used a trove of archived images taken by NASA’s Hubble […]
Posted April 18, 2024
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
Johnson Space Center
NASA and the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission team have won the National Aeronautic Association’s (NAA) Robert J. Collier Trophy.
Posted March 26, 2024
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
Asteroids
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Modeling
Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
After NASA’s historic Double Asteroid Redirection Test, a JPL-led study has shown that the shape of asteroid Dimorphos has changed and its orbit has shrunk. When NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) deliberately smashed into a 560-foot-wide (170-meter-wide) asteroid on Sept. 26, 2022, it made its mark in more ways than one.
Posted March 19, 2024
Asteroids
Deep Space Network
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)
Space Communications & Navigation Program
During the close approach of 2008 OS7 with Earth on Feb. 2, the agency’s Deep Space Network planetary radar gathered the first detailed images of the stadium-size asteroid. On Feb. 2, a large asteroid safely drifted past Earth at a distance of about 1.8 million miles (2.9 million kilometers, or 7 ½ times the distance […]
Posted February 26, 2024
Asteroids
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science Mission Directorate
On January 13-14, 2014, representatives from NASA and various global research organizations convened the first meeting of the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) steering committee. This group was charged with strengthening coordinated international response to a potentially hazardous near-Earth object (NEO).
Posted January 30, 2024
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