Tag: Asteroids
-
Asteroid probe confirmed on good trajectory after Earth flyby
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft near Earth. Credit: JAXA A Japanese space probe picked up just the right amount of speed when it flew by Earth earlier this month, using the planet’s gravity to slingshot toward an asteroid scientists think is a primordial leftover from the ancient solar system, mission managers said Monday.…
-
With widespread salts and ices, Ceres in a class of its own
The dwarf planet Ceres turns out to be a world with untold wonders, with vivid bright spots likely made of dried mineral salts and hazes apparently triggered by daytime heating, drawing a comparison to comets and strikingly differentiating it from neighboring bodies in the asteroid belt, according to the latest results from NASA’s Dawn mission.…
-
Asteroid mining riches await: President Obama signs space resource bill into law
An artist’s concept shows a spacecraft mining an asteroid. (Credit: Bryan Versteeg / Deep Space Industries) President Barack Obama today put his signature on a law supporting the rights of space miners to extract, use and sell resources from asteroids, the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies – giving space-minded entrepreneurs something extra to be thankful for. “This…
-
High-flying scientists capture mystery object WT1190F’s fiery breakup on video
An image captured from a chartered Gulfstream 450 business jet shows the fiery breakup of the space object known as WT1190F. (Credit: IAC via YouTube) Scientists flying on an instrument-laden jet captured great video views of a mysterious space object known as WT1190F as it streaked through the air and burned up over the Indian…
-
Asteroid miners hail commercial space legislation that sets up property rights in space
An artist’s conception shows an asteroid being mined by swarms of robots. (Credit: Planetary Resources) After months of consideration, Congress is finishing up work on legislation that establishes legal rights for U.S. citizens to own resources in outer space – a key requirement for asteroid mining ventures like Planetary Resources. “Many years from now, we will…
-
Dawn spacecraft moves in for a close-up of Ceres
This mosaic shows Ceres’ Occator crater and surrounding terrain from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers), as seen by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Occator is about 60 miles (90 kilometers) across and 2 miles (4 kilometers) deep. Occator is home to the brightest area on Ceres, which tends to appear overexposed in most images. This…
-
NASA turning to U.S. industry to build asteroid redirect craft
Artist’s concept of the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission spacecraft with a captured boulder from an asteroid. Credit: NASA NASA is seeking proposals from U.S. satellite manufacturers interested in building the spacecraft bus for the agency’s initiative to pluck a boulder from an asteroid and drive it into lunar orbit, with plans to select multiple winners…
-
Assembly complete for NASA’s asteroid sample return spacecraft
Technicians recently installed OSIRIS-REx’s solar panels and high-gain antenna. Credit: Lockheed Martin NASA’s first asteroid-sampling probe, OSIRIS-REx, has been assembled at a Lockheed Martin satellite factory in Colorado and is now being tested to ensure it can withstand the harsh journey to an asteroid and back. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is now set for a sequence…
-
NASA might pick two Discovery missions, but at a price
Artist’s concept of the VERITAS spacecraft at Venus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A senior NASA official said Monday the agency could select two new robotic planetary science missions next year for launch in the early 2020s, and the finalists are a Venus orbiter and atmospheric probe, an observatory to search for killer space rocks, and two probes…
-
Target of Japanese space mission named for dragon’s palace
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft at asteroid Ryugu. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita The Japanese space agency has selected Ryugu as the name of an asteroid pursued by the country’s Hayabusa 2 space probe, naming the object after a dragon’s palace in an ancient Japanese fairy tale, officials said Monday. A selection committee picked the…