Asteroids as a research area encompasses the scientific investigation of small rocky bodies primarily located in the asteroid belt and throughout the Solar System, focusing on their composition, internal structure, dynamical evolution, and role in planetary formation and collisional processes. This field integrates observational astronomy, spectroscopy, celestial mechanics, planetary geology, and space mission data to constrain asteroid taxonomies, surface and subsurface properties, impact hazards, and resource potential. Research addresses accretion and differentiation histories, space weathering, binary and rubble-pile formation, migration mechanisms, and their contribution to the delivery of volatiles and organics to terrestrial planets, providing constraints on early Solar System conditions.
We might not currently have any technology that would make a space elevator viable on Earth. But that doesn't mean they wouldn't work on other bodies around the solar system. One of the most interesting places that one could ...
Space Exploration
Jun 19, 2025
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Shortly after astronomers detected asteroid 2024 YR4 on December 27, 2024, they realized it posed no threat to Earth. But it could still impact the moon in 2032. The impact debris could threaten satellites and trigger an ...
Astronomy
Jun 17, 2025
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Asteroids colliding with Earth might seem farfetched, but the planetary threat is real. Just this year news broke of an asteroid with a 1%–2% chance of a fatal collision occurring in 2032. While more recent measurements of ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 17, 2025
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The European Space Agency's (ESA) newest planetary defender has opened its "eye" to the cosmos for the first time. The Flyeye telescope's 'first light' marks the beginning of a new chapter in how we scan the skies for new ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 5, 2025
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Asteroids are the ancient remnants of our solar system's birth, rocky fragments that never formed into planets. Most of these celestial wanderers inhabit the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, where Jupiter's immense ...
Planetary Sciences
May 29, 2025
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China on Thursday launched a space probe on the country's first mission to retrieve samples from an asteroid and bring them home for research, the Xinhua state news agency reported.
Space Exploration
May 28, 2025
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Twenty years ago, the U.S. Congress instructed NASA to find 90% of near-Earth asteroids threatening Earth. They've made progress finding these asteroids that orbit the sun and come to within 1.3 astronomical units of Earth. ...
Planetary Sciences
May 26, 2025
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In recent years, humanity has visited several near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), including Ryugu (Hayabusa2) and Didymos (DART). However, we will need more frequent missions to start gathering more helpful information about this ...
Space Exploration
May 21, 2025
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Analyzing gravity data collected by spacecraft orbiting other worlds reveals groundbreaking insights about planetary structures without having to land on the surface.
Astronomy
May 14, 2025
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China's Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission is set to launch this month, May 2025, en route to the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3). The country could join the United States and Japan, whose space agencies have both successfully ...
Planetary Sciences
May 13, 2025
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