On Sunday, a capsule carrying samples of a distant asteroid landed safely in the desert in Utah. The samples, collected by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, are the largest amount of asteroid material ever returned to Earth.
Posts tagged as “asteroids”
Yesterday, NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid on purpose. The mission was meant to test a method for possibly changing the path of an asteroid. Knowing how to do this could be helpful in the future if an asteroid is heading toward Earth.
On Saturday, NASA launched a special spacecraft called Lucy. Lucy will take a 12-year trip to learn more about a group of asteroids known as the Trojans. Scientists believe the asteroids will provide information on the beginning of the solar system.
On February 28, people across Northern Europe saw a bright light streaking across the sky. It was a fireball - a bright meteor - falling to Earth. Scientists have now found a rock from that fireball in a driveway in England.
In today's news roundup, Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe returns asteroid samples to Earth, China's Chang'e-5 moon mission is on its way back with lunar samples, and a series of metal monoliths have appeared and disappeared around the world.
On Tuesday, a NASA spacecraft touched down on an asteroid for a few seconds to collect samples that will be brought back to Earth. The operation will help scientists learn more about conditions when the solar system was first formed.
July has been a busy month in space and an especially busy month for missions to Mars. Here’s a look at the recent launches by NASA and China, as well as the story of two teenage girls from India who discovered an asteroid.
In December, 2014, Japan launched a rocket to send its spacecraft, Hayabusa2, into space. The Hayabusa2 has finally arrived near the asteroid it was sent to study.