Asteroids

15,000 Near Earth Asteroids: Your Election Day Getaway

15,000 Near Earth Asteroids: Your Election Day Getaway

“I don’t know where I’m a gonna go when the Volcano blows” – Mr. James Buffet On a day on which some portion of the U.S. population may be prone to a contemplating a permanent change of address, perhaps it is time to consider the long term prospects of what may be the the ultimate […]

Posted in: Asteroids
NASA Counting Down to Asteroid Mission Launch on Thursday Evening

NASA Counting Down to Asteroid Mission Launch on Thursday Evening

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is counting down to the launch of yet another ground breaking (in this case, literally) spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral. Flying aboard the ever-reliable ULA Atlas-V in its 411 configuration, the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer, or Osiris-REx, will journey to the Near Earth asteroid Bennu, where it will collect and […]

Posted in: Asteroids, NASA
Deep Space Industries Announces First Asteroid Mission

Deep Space Industries Announces First Asteroid Mission

  Coming right on the heels of the announcement by Moon Express that it has received clearance for a historic first commercial trip to the Moon, Deep Space Industries is officially announcing plans to send the first private mission to an asteroid. Notably, while the company’s long term goal is asteroid mining, its first mission […]

Study: Ceres Likely Harbors Water Ice in Polar Craters

Study: Ceres Likely Harbors Water Ice in Polar Craters

A paper published in Geophysical Research Letters concludes that in addition to whatever ice reserves the dwarf planet Ceres may harbor under its surface, (and they could be substantial, including even a subsurface ocean) the largest body in the main asteroid belt has also likely accumulated quite a bit of water ice in permanently shadowed […]

Posted in: Asteroids, NASA
Asteroid 2016 HO3, Earth’s Other, Distant Mini-Moon

Asteroid 2016 HO3, Earth’s Other, Distant Mini-Moon

Last week, astronomers announced the discovery of a small “quasi satellite” of Earth, asteroid 2016 HO3, which is locked into a rather rare orbit which has it circling our planet at a variable distance in a dance between the Earth and the Sun. While not totally stable, it could last for some time. The complete […]

Posted in: Asteroids
Astrobotic Technology Introduces New Lunar Lander, Luxembourg Reaches For it All

Astrobotic Technology Introduces New Lunar Lander, Luxembourg Reaches For it All

Two recent news items highlight the slow, but steady progress being made to set the stage for the robotic exploration and utilization of space beyond low Earth orbit. First, the tiny European nation of Luxembourg, already home to two of the world’s largest ComSat companies, announced a new initiative, called spaceresources.lu  to promote space mining and […]

Posted in: Asteroids, Moon
Congress to Prez: “Kiss My Asteroid”

Congress to Prez: “Kiss My Asteroid”

Congress Give’s President ARM the Finger What may ultimately go down as one of the the strangest and most half-hearted space policy proposals in American history is finally just going down. As spacepolicyonline reports in its usual excruciating detail, a Congressional committee has essentially de-funded the Obama Administration’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, or ARM. Yesterday, the […]

Posted in: Asteroids, Congress
Luxembourg and Deep Space Industries Team Up to Advance Asteroid Mining

Luxembourg and Deep Space Industries Team Up to Advance Asteroid Mining

The United States is not the only country seeking to establish a sound legal framework for domestic corporations to go to work in outer space. In Europe, Luxembourg has stepped into the fray with an initiative of its own, titled spaceresources.lu. Last week, it announced a partnership with U.S. based Deep Space Industries to support […]

Establishing a Legal Framework for Deep Space Development

Establishing a Legal Framework for Deep Space Development

As the NewSpace era gradually transitions from addressing the challenges of reaching orbit to building out the business cases for what can happen once you do, regulatory issues are going to continue to play a significant, and in many cases, enhanced role. For those who are prone to be unhappy about seeing the advance of […]

ESO’s HARPS Captures Unexpected Changes in Ceres’ Mysterious Bright Spots

ESO’s HARPS Captures Unexpected Changes in Ceres’ Mysterious Bright Spots

A bit if interesting news regarding Ceres that comes not from the Dawn spacecraft, but rather from the ground based observation from the European Southern Observatory. From ESO: “Observations made using the HARPS spectrograph at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile have revealed unexpected changes in the bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres. Although […]

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