Metal-rich near-Earth asteroids, or NEAs, are rare, but their presence provides the intriguing possibility that iron, nickel and cobalt could someday be mined for use on Earth or in Space.
Space Exploration
Oct 1, 2021
14
1096
A new study authored by Southwest Research Institute planetary scientist Dr. Tracy Becker discusses several new views of the asteroid 16 Psyche, including the first ultraviolet observations. The study, which was published ...
Astronomy
Oct 26, 2020
6
876
NASA's Lucy mission team is seeing double after discovering that Eurybates, the asteroid the spacecraft has targeted for flyby in 2027, has a small satellite. This "bonus" science exploration opportunity for the project was ...
Space Exploration
Jan 10, 2020
1
1471
4.6 billion years ago, our solar system formed from a collection of gas and dust surrounding our nascent sun. While much of the gas and dust in this protoplanetary disk coalesced to form the planets, some of the debris was ...
Space Exploration
Sep 10, 2015
0
26
One of Europe's smallest states, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, cast its eyes to the cosmos on Friday, announcing it would draw up a law to facilitate mining on asteroids.
Space Exploration
Jun 3, 2016
7
1924
On Feb. 21, 2019, we shot an asteroid.
Space Exploration
May 8, 2020
3
730
Dwarf planets tend to be a mysterious bunch. With the exception of Ceres, which resides in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, all members of this class of minor planets in our solar system lurk in the depths ...
Space Exploration
May 12, 2016
4
1098
A Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists has identified a potentially new meteorite parent asteroid by studying a small shard of a meteorite that arrived on Earth a dozen years ago. The composition of a piece ...
Astronomy
Dec 21, 2020
4
315
Southwest Research Institute scientists are using telescopes to observe the asteroid Psyche in the infrared, providing context for NASA's upcoming Psyche mission. Dr. Stephanie Jarmak is using the James Webb Space Telescope ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 2, 2023
0
481
First classified a planet, then an asteroid and then a "dwarf planet" with some traits of a moon—the more scientists learn about Ceres, the weirder it becomes.
Space Exploration
Apr 13, 2015
14
1551
