Flyby

Asteroid Apophis is scheduled for a brief rendezvous with Earth and NASA is hoping to get a good view of the close encounter in order to prepare for potentially hazardous visits by other rocky bodies.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewDuring the Planetary Defense Conference in Vienna, Austria, last week, Bhavya Lal, NASA’s associate administrator for technology, policy and strategy, revealed the space agency’s concept for using a swarm of spacecraft to capture images and data of…

Asteroids make close approaches to Earth almost every day, but how does NASA track these space rocks located millions of kilometers away in space? NASA telescopes such as the Pans-STARRS1 located in Maui, Hawaii, and the Catalina Sky Survey situated near Tucson, Arizona conduct surveys that have detected numerous near-Earth objects like asteroids, comets and more. Additionally, NEOWISE, NASA's space-based observatory, has identified hundreds of asteroids by scanning the skies with near-infrared wavelengths of light from…

The Artemis II mission is set to liftoff next year, taking four astronauts around the Moon in a historic flyby of our lunar satellite. While we’re still a long way off from the mission itself, NASA has finally revealed the four Artemis II astronauts we’ll be watching as the mission progresses next year. Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to the Moon since the last Apollo mission over 50 years ago. When Artemis II lifts off sometime in 2024, it will carry four astronauts around the Moon, testing the…

HOUSTON — NASA has named its first astronaut crew bound for the moon in more than 50 years. The space agency on Monday (April 3) announced the four astronauts who will launch on its Artemis 2 mission to fly around the moon. The crew is expected to become the first moon voyagers since the Apollo program. The Artemis 2 crew includes commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Hansen is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut flying under an agreement between the…

NASA plans on Monday to introduce the four astronauts for its Artemis II lunar flyby mission, set for launch as early as next year in what would be the first crewed voyage around the Moon since the end of the Apollo era more than 50 years ago.Officials from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), which is contributing an astronaut to the crew, will join their US counterparts for the announcement in Houston at Johnson Space Center, NASA's mission control base.Artemis II will mark the debut crewed flight - but not the first lunar…

A scary 160-foot asteroid named Asteroid 2023 DZ2 is rushing towards Planet Earth to make an uncomfortable close approach at a mind numbing speed, warns NASA. NASA tech and calculations have revealed that Asteroid 2023 DZ2 is set to come closer to Earth than the Moon! It can be known that the distance between Earth and the Moon is around 239000 miles. According to the information provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the 160-foot gigantic space rock will make its closest approach to our planet at a distance…

NASA keeps a close eye on asteroids that pass near Earth, as these objects have the potential to be dangerous. Most asteroids can be found in the region of the solar system located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, known as the asteroid belt. However, some asteroids also have orbits that bring them closer to Earth. In recent years, there have been several close calls with asteroids that have passed close to our planet. However, due to the early detection and monitoring of these asteroids, scientists have been able…

NASA telescopes such as the Pans-STARRS1 located in Maui, Hawaii, and the Catalina Sky Survey situated near Tucson, Arizona, have conducted surveys that have detected numerous near-Earth objects like asteroids. Additionally, NEOWISE, NASA's space-based observatory, has identified hundreds of asteroids by scanning the skies with near-infrared wavelengths of light from its orbit around Earth's poles. To collect accurate information about an asteroid's trajectory and attributes, NASA employs its ground-based radar.Using…

NASA for years has prioritized detecting asteroids much bigger and more existentially threatening than 2023 BU, the small space rock that streaked by 2,200 miles from the Earth's surface, closer than some satellites. The discovery of an asteroid the size of a small shipping truck mere days before it passed Earth on Thursday, albeit one that posed no threat to humans, highlights a blind spot in our ability to predict those that could actually cause damage, astronomers say. NASA for years has prioritized detecting…

Although asteroids pass by at a safe distance, one visiting space rock could come as close to Earth as the Moon, NASA has revealed. NASA has a Near-Earth Objects (NEO) Observations Program to find, track, and characterize at least 90 percent of the predicted NEOs that are 140 meters and larger in size in the sky. Another organization called Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) accurately characterizes the orbits of all known near-Earth objects and predicts their close approaches to Earth. Both these…