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News Articles: asteroid

The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range.

NASA asteroid sample lands safely in Utah before being whisked away by helicopter

NASA's Osiris-REx mission has successfully returned a pristine sample of asteroid back to Earth. This cupful-or-so of space rock could shed light on the solar system's origins.

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By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
A small sample of asteroid collected by Japan's Hayabusa-2 probe streaks back to Earth in 2020. Researchers now say the sample contains tiny grains of dust from other stars.

Researchers discover stardust sprinkled on a nearby asteroid

The dust, which came from distant stars, is thought to be similar to grains that eventually helped form the planets, including Earth.

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By:
  • Geoff Brumfiel
NASA Small-Body Database shows the orbits of the Earth, moon and asteroid 2023 DZ2.

An airplane-sized asteroid will pass between the Earth and moon's orbits Saturday

The asteroid 2023 DZ2 will pass at a distance of over 100,000 miles, less than half the distance between the Earth and the moon. It's about 160 feet long — about the size of an airplane.

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By:
  • Kaitlyn Radde
This is the last complete image of Dimorphos taken by the DRACO imager on NASA's DART mission before the collision. It shows a patch of the asteroid about 100 feet across, captured from some 7 miles away and two seconds before impact.

This is what NASA's spacecraft saw just seconds before slamming into an asteroid

NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid on Monday night. These are the final images it captured as it hurtled toward the rocky surface.

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By:
  • Rachel Treisman
This illustration shows the DART spacecraft approaching the two asteroids, Didymos and Dimorphos, with a small observing spacecraft nearby.

Move over, Bruce Willis: NASA crashed into an asteroid to test planetary defense

NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a test of planetary defense. Now it will determine whether the mission was able to alter the asteroid's course.

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By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
An illustration of the DART spacecraft approaching two asteroids; it will crash into the smaller one to try to change how this space rock orbits its larger companion.

In a first test of its planetary defense efforts, NASA's going to shove an asteroid

NASA is about to launch the first mission of its new planetary defense office. A spacecraft will attempt to knock a small asteroid off course by ramming into it.

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By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
This computer-generated image shows the Hayabusa2 spacecraft above the asteroid Ryugu. This weekend, the sample collected by the spacecraft arrived on Earth after a six-year mission.

Japanese Capsule Containing Bits Of An Asteroid Returns To Earth

The sample collected by the spacecraft Hayabusa2 caps a six-year mission to Ryugu. Researchers hope it will offer clues to "the secrets of the birth of the solar system and the birth of life."

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By:
  • Colin Dwyer and
  • Jason Slotkin