Tag: Asteroids
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NASA asteroid explorer aces final rehearsal before sampling run
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft moved within about 131 feet, or 40 meters, of asteroid Bennu this week in the $1 billion mission’s final practice run before a touch-and-go landing on the asteroid in October to collect samples for return to Earth. During the sampling rehearsal Tuesday, engineers monitoring the spacecraft’s maneuvers from Earth confirmed that…
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Asteroid samples aboard Japanese probe on track for return to Earth in December
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft releasing its sample return capsule. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita A capsule carrying extraterrestrial specimens collected by Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is scheduled for landing in South Australia on Dec. 6 to wrap up a six-year round-trip mission to an asteroid, officials announced this week. Officials from the Japan Aerospace…
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Happy Asteroid Day! Why we’re going out to space rocks before they come for us
An artist’s conception shows the spacecraft for NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test approaching its target. (NASA / JHUAPL Illustration) Today’s 112th anniversary of a close brush with a cosmic catastrophe serves as a teachable moment about the perils and prospects posed by near-Earth asteroids. Asteroid Day is timed to commemorate a blast from space that…
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Don’t panic: Huge, headline-grabbing asteroid has no chance of hitting us anytime soon
An artist’s conception shows asteroids zipping past Earth. (NASA Illustration) The bad news is that an asteroid of city-killing proportions is heading in our direction, but the good news is that it’ll miss us on Saturday night by 3.2 million miles. The space rock, known as 2002 NN4, generated enough scary headlines that NASA felt…
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After buying Planetary Resources, ConsenSys sets its space ideas free — but will sell off the hardware
An Asteroids arcade game from Planetary Resources’ breakroom is among the items to be auctioned off next month. (James G. Murphy Co. Photo) It’s been a year and a half since the assets of Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining venture headquartered in Redmond, Wash., were acquired by a blockchain venture called ConsenSys. Now we’re finding…
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Scientists optimistic planetary probes won’t face coronavirus launch delays
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated to correct spelling of Hal Levison’s name. Artist’s concept of the Lucy spacecraft flying by Trojan asteroids. Credit: NASA/SWRI Launches of interplanetary missions can only depart Earth when the positions of the planets are just right, and officials managing the development of probes set for launch in 2021 and 2022 to explore asteroids…
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OSIRIS-REx spacecraft carries out first of two rehearsals before sampling asteroid
This artist’s concept shows the trajectory and configuration of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during the checkpoint rehearsal, which was the first time the mission practiced the initial steps for collecting a sample from asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Operating with on-board autonomy more than 140 million miles from Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft succeeded Tuesday in…
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NASA selects site for OSIRIS-REx to collect asteroid samples
This image shows sample site Nightingale, OSIRIS-REx’s primary sample collection site on asteroid Bennu. The image is overlaid with a graphic of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to illustrate the scale of the site. Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Using precise autonomous navigation algorithms, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will descend to the surface of an asteroid next year, aiming…
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Earth observation, deep space exploration big winners in new ESA budget
Frédérique Vidal, the French government’s representative and co-chair on the ESA Ministerial Council, ESA director general Jan Wörner, and Manuel Heitor, the Portuguese government’s representative and co-chair on the ESA Ministerial Council. Credit: ESA – S. Corvaja European Space Agency member states on Thursday committed nearly 12.5 billion euros ($13.7 billion) to fund ESA programs…
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Japanese sample return craft departs asteroid, heads for Earth
The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft’s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Ryugu on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Credit: JAXA Closing out a year-and-a-half of exploration, surveys and sampling operations at asteroid Ryugu, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft fired thrusters in a departure maneuver Wednesday and headed for Earth with specimens snatched from the asteroid’s dark and rocky…