Asteroid

Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have mapped the composition of asteroid Psyche, revealing a surface of metal, sand, and rock. Credit: Screenshot courtesy of NASAThe varied surface of asteroid Psyche suggests a dynamic history, which could include metallic eruptions, asteroid-shaking impacts, and a lost rocky mantle.Later this year, <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in…

If you wanted to do a forensic study of the Solar System, you might head for the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That's where you can find ancient rocks from the Solar System's early days. Out there in the cold vacuum of space, far from the Sun, asteroids are largely untouched by space weathering.  Space scientists sometimes refer to asteroids – and their meteorite fragments that fall to Earth – as time capsules because of the evidence they hold.The asteroid Psyche is especially interesting, and NASA is…

Asteroid Bennu’s remarkable terrain. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterAsteroid Bennu’s boulder-covered surface gives it protection against small meteoroid impacts, according to observations of craters by <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal…

Left: A photograph of the rocks retrieved by Hayabusa2 from the asteroid Ryugu. Right: a zoomed-in image of the structure of one of the pieces, taken by an electron microscope. Credit: JAXA/Yokoyama et al.Asteroid Ryugu samples suggest it’s leftover from the formation of the sun billions of years ago.Hayabusa2, an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (<span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div…

Artist’s conception of the twin Janus probes. Image: Lockheed MartinA software glitch has caused the delay of Psyche, a NASA mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Two small probes are being included in the launch, but the postponement means they might not be able to rendezvous with their respective target asteroids.Psyche, a probe designed to explore the unusual metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche, is currently undergoing preparations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Mission engineers recently spotted an anomaly that…

Scientists have discovered the building ingredients of life on an asteroid in space for the first time. More than 20 amino acids have been identified on the space rock Ryugu, which is more than 200 million miles from Earth. Scientists studied materials taken from the asteroid by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 probe, which landed on Ryugu in 2018. The spacecraft retrieved 0.2 ounces (5.4 grams) of material from the asteroid's surface and subsurface in 2019, stored it in an airtight container, and…

A six-year round trip to an asteroid and back has yielded unprecedented insights into the formation of the solar system. Scientists have conducted the first comprehensive analysis of samples returned from asteroid Ryugu, finding a detailed history starting with the oldest material ever found.The solar system started out as basically a giant disc of dust and gas, which gradually clumped together to form the Sun, then the planets and moons. The crumbs of this cake were left to drift around in space as asteroids and comets,…

The Lucy spacecraft will be the first to visit the Trojan asteroids. Illustration: NASAFor nearly eight months, Lucy has been sailing its way to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids while NASA engineers on the ground have been working to fix a pesky solar array that refuses to unfurl. The good news is that there now appears to be some progress.The solar array failed to open shortly after the spacecraft launched in October 2021. Ground controllers with the NASA project sent commands to the Lucy spacecraft on four separate occasions…

For the first time, scientists have found the building blocks for life on an asteroid in space. Japanese researchers have discovered more than 20 amino acids on the space rock Ryugu, which is more than 200 million miles (320 million kilometers) from Earth.  Scientists made the first-of-its-kind detection by studying samples retrieved from the near-Earth asteroid by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which landed on Ryugu in 2018.In 2019, the spacecraft collected 0.2 ounce (5.4 grams)…

Back in 2019, Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft collected samples from an asteroid known as Ryugu. Located nearly 200 million miles from Earth, the asteroid has been a focus of studies for some time. Now, Japan’s education of ministry has shared the findings from the samples Hayabusa2 collected, noting that it discovered key building blocks of life on the asteroid. Samples from an asteroid contain the key building blocks of life Material from the asteroid Ryugu obtained by Japan’s asteroid probe Hayabusa2. Image…