Asteroids

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
Asteroids
Meteors & Meteorites
Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
The Scout impact assessment system calculated where and when the asteroid 2024 BX1 would impact Earth’s atmosphere, providing a useful demonstration of planetary defense capability. A small asteroid about 3 feet (1 meter) in size disintegrated harmlessly over Germany on Sunday, Jan. 21, at 1:32 a.m. local time (CET).
Posted January 24, 2024
OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer)
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Solar System
The former OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sets off on a journey to study asteroid Apophis and take advantage of the asteroid’s 2029 flyby of Earth, the likes of which hasn’t happened since the dawn of recorded history.
Posted December 22, 2023
Psyche Mission
Asteroids
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Psyche Asteroid
The Solar System
The mission team has celebrated several successes since its launch from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 13. The latest is the operation of the spacecraft’s cameras. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on a roll. In the eight weeks since it left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one successful operation after another, powering on […]
Posted December 5, 2023
Asteroids
Jupiter
Mars
Pioneer
Pioneer 10
Planets
The Solar System
This illustration made on Nov. 26, 1974, by Rick Giudice shows the Pioneer 10 spacecraft traveling through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. At the time, it was uncertain whether it would traverse it safely since the density of particles large enough to damage the craft was […]
Posted December 4, 2023
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
Lucy
The Solar System
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft took images of asteroid Dinkinesh, discovering that the asteroid has the first-ever contact binary pair orbiting the asteroid.
Posted November 7, 2023
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
Asteroids
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Planetary Science Division
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will be honored with the 2024 Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement.
Posted November 7, 2023
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
Lucy
The Solar System
On Nov. 1, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by not just its first asteroid, but its first two. The first images returned by Lucy reveal that the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh is actually a binary pair.
Posted November 2, 2023
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