Tag: Asteroids
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Lucy in final preparations for launch, Principal Investigator discusses mission’s trajectory
After being shipped to Florida in early August, NASA’s most daring asteroid exploration mission yet — Lucy — is now in final launch preparations as the opening of its interplanetary transfer window to Jupiter nears. With the launch date just two weeks away, the mission’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Hal Levison, spoke with NASASpaceflight about the…
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Lucy’s Principal Investigator discusses upcoming mission to Jupiter’s Trojans
Of the varying types of celestial objects humans have sent spacecraft to investigate, there remains a select group of asteroids, located in two separate locations in our solar system, that we have yet to visit — the Trojan asteroids. Trojan asteroids are located at Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Lagrange points, 60 degrees ahead of and…
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Lucy spacecraft passes pre-shipment review, on track for October launch
NASA and Lockheed Martin are another step closer to the launch of their Lucy Trojan Explorer mission, with the craft completing its pre-shipment review ahead of transportation to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in August. Lucy will be the first mission of its kind, set to explore several asteroids in Jupiter’s L4…
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Launch of asteroid deflection demonstrator slips to November
NASA’s DART spacecraft is prepared for thermal testing in February. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman The launch of a NASA spacecraft designed to smash into an asteroid to try out a technique that could protect Earth from threatening space rocks has slipped from July until November, at the earliest, after development delays partially caused by…
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Scientists thrilled with asteroid treasure returned by Japanese spacecraft
Japanese scientists found black material from asteroid Ryugu inside one of the Hayabusa 2 mission’s collection chambers (color corrected by Spaceflight Now). Credit: JAXA Japanese space agency officials said Tuesday they found a “large number” of pitch black rock and dust particles after opening a capsule returned to Earth earlier this month by the Hayabusa…
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Japanese asteroid sampling mission on course for return to Earth
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft releasing its sample return capsule. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita Six years after departing Earth, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft released a spinning capsule Saturday containing pristine asteroid material for a scorching re-entry and landing in the remote Australian outback, where teams are standing by to retrieve the specimens for analysis.…
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Japanese capsule carrying asteroid rocks lands in Australia after six-year mission
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa spacecraft releasing it sample return capsule. Credit: JAXA An armored re-entry capsule carrying pristine specimens from an asteroid streaked into Earth’s atmosphere and parachuted to a landing in the Australian outback Saturday, bringing home extraterrestrial rocks that could hold clues to the origin of life on Earth. The Hayabusa 2…
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Live coverage: Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return capsule lands in Australia
Live coverage of the return of Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission to Earth carrying samples collected from asteroid Ryugu. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby title=”Video of sample capsule landing”] [tabby title=”Video of sample capsule separation”] [tabbyending]
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Arecibo Observatory collapses as scientists lament loss of deep space radar
The instrument platform of the Arecibo Observatory — seen here in an earlier photo — collapsed onto the telescope’s dish Dec. 1. Credit: National Science Foundation The 900-ton suspended platform of Puerto Rico’s famed Arecibo Observatory collapsed Tuesday after cable failures, crashing into the radio telescope’s iconic dish and shattering a research instrument used for…
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Scientists release new view from OSIRIS-REx’s asteroid smash and grab
This view from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s navigation camera shows asteroid Bennu as the probe moved in for a sample collection maneuver Oct. 20. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Scientists say the touch and go landing by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on an asteroid last month revealed fresh insights into the structure of loose rocks that may…