Asteroids

Lucy

Asteroids

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)

NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope)

NEOWISE

Planetary Defense

Trojan Asteroids

WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer)

Data From NASA’s WISE Used to Preview Lucy Mission’s Asteroid Dinkinesh

Researchers have utilized infrared survey data to refine the asteroid’s size and surface brightness in support of the Nov. 1 encounter by NASA’s Lucy mission. NASA’s Lucy mission will soon have its first asteroid encounter as the spacecraft travels through deep space en route to Jupiter’s orbit. But before the spacecraft passes 265 miles (425 […]

Posted October 30, 2023

Science Mission Directorate

Asteroids

Planetary Defense

Planetary Defense Coordination Office

Planetary Science

Planetary Science Division

Near-Earth Asteroids as of August 31, 2023

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that orbit the Sun like the planets with orbits that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit.

Posted October 17, 2023

DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)

Asteroids

Didymos & Dimorphos

Planetary Defense

Planetary Defense Coordination Office

Planetary Science

Planetary Science Division

Double Asteroid Redirection Test Post-Impact Image Gallery

After 10 months flying in space, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration – successfully impacted its asteroid target on Monday, September 26 at 7:14 p.m. EDT. as the world’s first attempt to move an asteroid in space.

Posted October 16, 2023

Psyche Mission

Asteroids

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)

Missions

Psyche Asteroid

Technology Demonstration

Technology Demonstration Missions Program

The Solar System

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft, Optical Comms Demo En Route to Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on its voyage to an asteroid of the same name, a metal-rich world that could tell us more about the formation of rocky planets. Psyche successfully launched 10:19 a.m. EDT Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Integrated onto the […]

Posted October 13, 2023

Psyche Mission

Asteroids

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Psyche Asteroid

The Solar System

Journey to a Metal-Rich World: NASA’s Psyche Is Ready to Launch

The spacecraft is targeting an Oct. 12 liftoff atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. Its destination, a metal-rich asteroid, may tell us more about how planets form. In less than 24 hours, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is slated to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With its sights set on a mysterious asteroid of […]

Posted October 11, 2023

OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)

Asteroids

Johnson Space Center

NASA to Host Asteroid Sample Media Call; Provide Experts for Interviews

Following a public unveiling of the United States’ first asteroid sample at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 11, NASA will host a media teleconference and separate in-person interviews in English and Spanish with experts from the agency and the University of Arizona.

Posted October 5, 2023

General

Ames Research Center

Ames Research Center's Science Directorate

Asteroids

Discovery Program

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

Planetary Science Division

Psyche Asteroid

Psyche Mission

Science Mission Directorate

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) / 747-SP

The Solar System

Clues to Psyche Asteroid’s Metallic Nature Found in SOFIA Data

When the asteroid Psyche has its first close-up with a NASA spacecraft, scientists hypothesize they will find a metal-rich asteroid. It could be part or all of the iron-rich interior of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block, that was stripped of its outer rocky shell as it repeatedly collided with other large bodies during […]

Posted October 2, 2023