Asteroids

Two weeks ago, the asteroid Dimorphos was minding its own business, quietly orbiting around its partner Didymos, when suddenly NASA’s DART spacecraft plowed into it at 14,000 miles per hour.The space agency and its partners planned that collision to see whether such an impact could alter an asteroid or comet’s trajectory—should humanity ever need to defend the planet from an oncoming space rock. Before the crash on September 26, Dimorphos circled its neighbor like clockwork: one lap every 11 hours and 55 minutes. If the…

There are a couple of things to notice. First, after the collision DART is moving backwards, because it bounced. Since velocity is a vector, that means that it will have a negative momentum in this one-dimensional example.Second, the kinetic energy equation deals with the square of the velocity. This means that even though DART has a negative velocity, it still has positive kinetic energy.We just have two equations and two variables, so these equations aren't impossible to solve—but they’re also not trivial. Here's what…

Just a couple of years ago, it seemed that space mining was inevitable. Analysts, tech visionaries and even renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson predicted that space mining was going to be big business.Space mining companies like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, backed by the likes of Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, cropped up to take advantage of the predicted payoff.Fast forward to 2022, and both Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries have been acquired by companies that have nothing to…

“This is the first time we’ve actually attempted to move something in our solar system with the intent of preventing a natural disaster that has been part of our planet’s history from the beginning,” says Statler.The DART probe, which is short for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, has been in the works since 2015. It was designed, built, and operated by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, with support from many NASA centers, and launched last November. DART is a major part of AIDA, the Asteroid…

Artistic depiction of the MoonWalker 3 satellite. Image: AST SpaceMobileAST SpaceMobile has established communications with its prototype satellite, BlueWalker 3, confirming its successful arrival in Earth orbit. The company will soon unfurl the satellite’s massive antenna array, which has astronomers worried that it could block their views of celestial objects in the sky.BlueWalker 3 launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Ground teams contacted the satellite less than an hour…

NASA has said that five asteroids are hurtling towards Earth this week. As per a report by HT Tech, these asteroids are at least a hundred feet in diametre and can easily destroy an entire…

The Earth still bears the scar of the gigantic asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, along with three quarters of all life – but a new study suggests that killer rock wasn’t alone. Scientists have discovered a new crater in the seabed of the North Atlantic Ocean that seems to correspond to around the same time, suggesting the extinction event could have been triggered by multiple impacts.Nadir crater, as it’s been named, measures around 8.5 km (5.3 miles) wide and lies about 400 km (250 miles) off the coast of…

All eyes will be on the moon as the Artemis mission’s inaugural launch blasts toward our lunar neighbor in a couple of weeks, but the rocket won’t be the only new craft heading to space. After NASA’s Orion capsule separates from the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the SLS will deploy 10 tiny satellites, each about the size of a shoebox, which will then head off in different directions. The SLS will make for a deluxe ride into deep space for the probes, which researchers usually launch into low Earth orbit aboard much…

According to NASA’s asteroid tracker, an asteroid over twice the size of a dinosaur will have a close flyby on August 16, 2022. This asteroid which is designated 2022 PW is currently heading in the direction…

Water may have been brought to Earth by asteroids from the outer edges of the solar system, scientists said after analysing rare samples collected on a six-year Japanese space mission.In a quest to shed light on the origins of life and the formation of the universe, researchers are scrutinising material brought back to earth in 2020 from the asteroid Ryugu.The 5.4 grams (0.2 ounces) of rocks and dust were gathered by a Japanese space probe, called Hayabusa-2, that landed on the celestial body and fired an "impactor" into…