https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. In a science lab on the fourth floor of UTSA's Multidisciplinary Studies Building, UTSA students engage in meticulous choreography around a glowing furnace, melting rocks to produce lava. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-volcanoes-asteroids-lab-advances-planetary.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:18:03 EDT news677924281 Asteroid 2024 YR4 caused quite a stir last year when it was discovered and originally calculated to have a 3% chance of hitting Earth. Since then models have been refined and while it no longer has a chance of hitting Earth, it does have a 4% chance of hitting the moon in December 2032. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-destroying-asteroid-yr4-option-moon.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:29:04 EDT news677759341 The ambitious mission to retrieve samples from asteroid Bennu and return them to Earth is paying off. Just as scientists had hoped, the asteroid is revealing details about the early days of our solar system. More than just a simple space rock, research is revealing that Bennu contains not only material from the solar system, but material from beyond our system. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-asteroid-bennu-capsule-early-solar.html Astronomy Thu, 28 Aug 2025 10:17:04 EDT news675595021 New results from OSIRIS-REx, NASA's first asteroid sample return mission, reveals why some gray asteroids reflect light at different wavelengths, like red or blue, more strongly. How these asteroids reflect light at red and blue wavelengths can give deeper insights into the evolution of rocky bodies in the solar system. The work is published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-decoding-clues-bennu-surface-composition.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 26 Aug 2025 08:50:05 EDT news675417002 On December 3, 2018, NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) successfully rendezvoused with the near-earth asteroid (NEA) 101955 Bennu. Over the next two years, the mission collected rock and regolith samples from the asteroid's surface. By September 24, 2023, the mission's sample return capsule (SRC) entered Earth's atmosphere and was collected by NASA scientists. Analysis of these samples is already providing insight into what conditions were like during the early solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-space-capsule-earth-atmosphere-acoustic.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 03 Mar 2025 14:24:03 EST news660234241 In October 2020, a van-sized robotic spacecraft briefly touched down on the surface of Bennu, a 525-meter-wide asteroid 320 million kilometers from Earth. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-analysis-asteroid-reveals-evidence-salty.html Planetary Sciences Sun, 02 Feb 2025 13:40:01 EST news657463521 Curtin University researchers have gained an unprecedented glimpse into the early history of our solar system through some of the most well-preserved asteroid samples ever collected, potentially transforming our understanding of planetary formation and the origins of life. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-pristine-asteroid-samples-reveal-secrets.html Astrobiology Sun, 02 Feb 2025 13:10:01 EST news657378373 Asteroids, small airless bodies within the inner solar system, are theorized to have contributed water and chemical building blocks of life to Earth billions of years ago. Although meteorites on Earth come from asteroids, the combination of exposure to moisture in the atmosphere and to an uncontrolled biosphere means that interpreting the data from them is challenging. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-asteroid-bennu-samples-nitrogenous-bases.html Astrobiology Wed, 29 Jan 2025 11:00:05 EST news657305324 The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead for initial work on a mission to visit an asteroid called (99942) Apophis. If approved at a key meeting next year, the robotic spacecraft, known as the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), will rendezvous with the asteroid in February 2029. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-apophis-european-space-mission-large.html Space Exploration Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:40:01 EST news649944545 An international team led by three researchers from the CNRS, the European Southern Observatory (ESO, Europe), and Charles University (Czech Republic) has successfully demonstrated that 70% of all known meteorite falls originate from just three young asteroid families. These families were produced by three recent collisions that occurred in the main asteroid belt 5.8, 7.5, and about 40 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-cosmic-meteorites-asteroid-families.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 16 Oct 2024 11:00:02 EDT news648291613 In 2023, the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission returned a sample of dust and rocks collected on the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. In addition to the information about the universe gleaned from the sample itself, the data generated by OSIRIS-REx might also present an opportunity to probe new physics. As described in Communications Physics, an international research team led by Los Alamos National Laboratory used the asteroid's tracking data to study the possible existence of a fifth fundamental force of the universe. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-earth-asteroid-probe-universe.html General Physics Mon, 07 Oct 2024 11:37:03 EDT news647519821 In a discreet vacuumed-packed container inside a FedEx box lies a piece of ancient history; extremely ancient history. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-bennu-asteroid-samples-unveiled.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 16 Jul 2024 15:54:03 EDT news640364041 Scientists have eagerly awaited the opportunity to dig into the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) pristine asteroid Bennu sample collected by NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security—Regolith Explorer) mission since it was delivered to Earth last fall. They have hoped the material would hold secrets of the solar system's past and the prebiotic chemistry that might have led to the origin of life on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-phosphate-nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 26 Jun 2024 15:54:29 EDT news638636064 Missions to asteroids have been on a tear recently. Visits by Rosetta, Osirix-REX, and Hayabusa2 have all visited small bodies and, in some cases, successfully returned samples to the Earth. But as humanity starts reaching out to asteroids, it will run into a significant technical problem—bandwidth. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-asteroids-spacecraft.html Space Exploration Tue, 09 Apr 2024 13:02:33 EDT news631886550 NASA finally has counted up all the asteroid samples returned by a spacecraft last fall—and it's double the rubble return goal. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-nasa-tally-spacecraft-amount-asteroid.html Space Exploration Fri, 16 Feb 2024 14:05:47 EST news627314736 Missions focusing on small bodies in the solar system have been coming thick and fast lately. OSIRIS-Rex, Psyche, and Rosetta are all examples of projects that planned or did rendezvous with a small body in the solar system. But one of their biggest challenges is understanding the gravity of these bodies—which was especially evident when Philae, Rosetta's lander, had a hard time staying on the surface of its intended comet. A new idea from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory could help solve that problem—by bouncing small probes around. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-miniaturized-robots-asteroid-gravity.html Space Exploration Wed, 27 Dec 2023 14:53:56 EST news622911232 The former OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sets off on a journey to study asteroid Apophis and take advantage of the asteroid's 2029 flyby of Earth, the likes of which hasn't happened since the dawn of recorded history. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-nasa-asteroid-sampling-mission-renamed.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 25 Dec 2023 07:15:09 EST news622710901 After an amazing journey, a grain from the asteroid Bennu will be brought to Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron, for scientific measurements. The grain is from 100 milligrams of sample sent to the Natual History Museum (NHM) in London, a small fraction of the approximately 70 grams of Bennu rock and dust brought back by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. It will be subject to intensive analysis at the Dual Imaging And Diffraction (DIAD) instrument in Diamond by Dr. Ashley King and his team from the NHM and other OSIRIS-REx collaborators at the Open, Oxford and Manchester Universities. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-synchrotron-based-analysis-asteroid-bennu.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 13 Dec 2023 19:00:01 EST news621705962 The OSIRIS-REx mission is NASA's first mission to collect samples from an asteroid—in this case 101955 Bennu—and return to Earth. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nasa-successful-recovery-asteroid-samples.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 15 Nov 2023 12:26:04 EST news619273561 Goddard's GIANT optical navigation software helped guide the OSIRIS-REx mission to the Asteroid Bennu. Today its developers continue to add functionality and streamline useability for future missions. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nasa-giant-optical-technology-future.html Space Exploration Thu, 26 Oct 2023 13:28:04 EDT news617545681 On September 24 this year, a NASA capsule parachuted down to Earth carrying a precious cache of material grabbed from an asteroid. The space agency has now revealed images and a preliminary analysis of the space rocks it found after lifting the lid off that capsule. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-osiris-rex-nasa-reveals-evidence-carbon.html Space Exploration Sat, 14 Oct 2023 12:20:01 EDT news616414440 A sample collected from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu contains abundant water and carbon, NASA revealed on Wednesday, offering more evidence for the theory that life on Earth was seeded from outer space. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nasa-asteroid-sample-life-critical-carbon.html Space Exploration Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:10:25 EDT news616245003 NASA is set to reveal on Wednesday the first images of the largest asteroid sample ever collected in space, something scientists hope will yield clues about the earliest days of our solar system and perhaps the origins of life itself. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nasa-unveil-images-historic-asteroid.html Space Exploration Wed, 11 Oct 2023 04:29:58 EDT news616217393 After years of anticipation and hard work by NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security—Regolith Explorer) team, a capsule of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu returned to Earth on Sept. 24 in a targeted area of the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nasa-osiris-rex-spacecraft-views-sample.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 04 Oct 2023 12:27:27 EDT news615641244 Early Sunday morning, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft released a container that subsequently landed in Utah containing material from Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid in the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-qa-asteroid-secrets-solar.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 02 Oct 2023 11:45:06 EDT news615465901 After a seven-year wait, NASA scientists on Tuesday finally pried open a space probe carrying the largest asteroid samples ever brought back to Earth, finding black debris. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-asteroid-debris-nasa-probe.html Space Exploration Wed, 27 Sep 2023 03:39:02 EDT news615004739 The first U.S. asteroid sample, delivered by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to Earth on Sept. 24, has arrived at its permanent home at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it will be cared for, stored, and distributed to scientists worldwide. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-nasa-osiris-rex-capsule-houston.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 26 Sep 2023 15:50:46 EDT news614962243 On Sunday morning, a capsule the size of a mini-fridge dropped from the skies over western Utah, carrying a first-of-its-kind package: about 250 grams of dirt and dust plucked from the surface of an asteroid. As a candy-striped parachute billowed open to slow its freefall, the capsule plummeted down to the sand, slightly ahead of schedule. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-qa-asteroid-sample-earth.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 25 Sep 2023 16:25:03 EDT news614877901 In the high desert of Nevada, Elizabeth Silber watched NASA's Sample Return Capsule from OSIRIS-REx descend into Earth's atmosphere on Sunday, but unlike most scientists, she wasn't there for the asteroid rocks. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-bennu-osiris-rex-scientists-sonic-signature.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:18:47 EDT news614873924 NASA's first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert Sunday to cap a seven-year journey. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-nasa-asteroid-samples-earth-spacecraft.html Space Exploration Sun, 24 Sep 2023 13:55:46 EDT news614782540