An SUV-sized spacecraft, loaded with instruments and an extendable robotic arm, will soon be barreling toward a space rock, on a round-trip journey that promises to return an unprecedented souvenir: extraterrestrial soil, ...
Space Exploration
Sep 8, 2016
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15
Deep Space Industries announced today its plans to fly the world's first commercial interplanetary mining mission. Prospector-1 will fly to and rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid, and investigate the object to determine ...
Space Exploration
Aug 10, 2016
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41
On May 4, 1976, NASA launched a cannonball-shaped satellite that transformed studies of Earth's shape, rotation and gravity field.
Space Exploration
May 5, 2016
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11
At the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, astronomers are busy tinkering with a high-tech instrument that could discover a variety of objects both far from Earth and closer to home.
Astronomy
Mar 4, 2016
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16
The asteroid 2013 TX68 will come fairly close to Earth in early March, but the exact time and distance of its closest approach will not be known until after the fact. Sean Marshall, a fifth-year Cornell University PhD student, ...
Space Exploration
Mar 2, 2016
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15
The first U.S. mission to return samples of an asteroid to Earth is another step closer to its fall 2016 launch, with the delivery of three cameras that will image and map the giant space rock.
Space Exploration
Aug 24, 2015
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30
At first glance, looking at a bunch of space rocks doesn't sound that exciting. Like, aren't they just a bunch of rubble? What use can they be in understanding the Solar System compared to looking at planets or moons?
Space Exploration
Feb 3, 2015
2
50
(Phys.org) —An asteroid about 25 feet (8 meters) across will safely pass Earth at about 1:21 p.m. PST (4:21 p.m. EST) today, March 6, approaching us six times closer than the moon.
Space Exploration
Mar 7, 2014
1
0
An infrared sensor that could improve NASA's future detecting and tracking of asteroids and comets has passed a critical design test.
Space Exploration
Apr 16, 2013
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1
There's been a lot of buzz in the media lately about mining asteroids, largely brought on by the introduction of Planetary Resources, Peter Diamandis' new venture into the industry. But is this business proposition actually ...
Space Exploration
Sep 26, 2012
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