mission objectives without waiting for the signal latency associated with deep-space communication. Stepping Toward Asteroid Resource Extraction Although the Autonomy-1 flight is fundamentally an engineering demonstration, its success is a foundational...

A massive crater on Mars’ moon Phobos may finally reveal if the mysterious satellite is a captured asteroid or debris from the Red Planet. For decades, Phobos has remained one of the solar system’s most enigmatic bodies. As a small, irregularly shaped...

2026) Relevant Scientific Literature Abundant ammonia and nitrogen-rich soluble organic matter in samples from asteroid (101955) Bennu (Nature Astronomy, 2025) Challenges and Opportunities in Using Amino Acids to Decode Carbonaceous Chondrite and...

mysterious meteorite impact that struck Earth during the planet’s infancy. Geologists have unearthed evidence of a massive asteroid strike in Western Australia that dates back 3.47 billion years, marking it as the oldest known impact crater on Earth....

experienced significant thermal metamorphism, partially recrystallizing its chondrules while still part of a larger parent asteroid. Further mineralogical tests identified the iron‑nickel alloys kamacite and taenite, along with trace amounts of native...

discovered that this bit of the Hillsborough meteorite is rich in salts and came from near the surface of the parent body asteroid.Credit: SETI Institute Analyses showed that the fragments contain a suite of organic molecules and water‑altered minerals,...

lack the capability to reach it. New research suggests that a long-discarded orbital path from a forgotten near-Earth asteroid could hold the key to unprecedented travel speeds between Earth and Mars. While the asteroid, identified as 2001 CA21, was...

Risk Analysis specifically modeled scenarios involving dramatic reductions in sunlight—caused by major volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts, or nuclear war—which would devastate global food production. Assessing 38 island nations, the researchers looked...

system. NASA is backing a novel spacecraft concept that could fundamentally change how we prospect for materials on moons, asteroids, and planets. Known as the Interworld Slingshot Resource Surveys, this project aims to detect mineral deposits from...

Ancient meteorites contain organic matter that predates our asteroids, offering a rare glimpse into the chemical environment of the early solar system. New research from Harvard University has provided a clearer picture of how organic molecules in our...

and Al-normalized compositions of major rock-forming lithophile elements in bulk silicate Earth2, bulk silicate Mars3, the asteroid Vesta (based on howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites34), two asteroid sample returns (Ryugu30 and Bennu31), as...

marketplace. He argues that affordable launches could unlock commercial ventures such as orbital solar‑power stations, asteroid extraction, and manufacturing facilities capable of producing fiber‑optic cables or 3D‑bioprinted organs in microgravity....

said. The challenge in quantifying this shrinkage lies in the planet’s chaotic surface, which has been reshaped by eons of asteroid impacts. Each collision leaves behind craters and debris fields, effectively burying the subtle geological wrinkles that...

underneath. Initial findings suggest that the area is dominated by two primary forces: widespread volcanism and intense asteroid bombardment. According to a recent NASA update, many of the rocks analyzed exhibit characteristics of igneous origins,...

A new computer model reveals when Earth became habitable, suggesting that the very asteroid impacts once thought to destroy life may have actually enabled it. New three-dimensional computer simulations suggest that the conditions necessary for the...

a former director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. Analysis suggests the object responsible was likely an asteroid or comet fragment roughly equivalent in scale to a three- to six-story building. Following Wagner’s initial detection...

interior. The South Pole–Aitken Impact Revisited The South Pole–Aitken basin is believed to have formed when a massive asteroid or protoplanet slammed into the Moon at high velocity. The energy released would have been immense, generating temperatures...

in the presence of water. Strecker synthesis has long been considered a likely pathway for amino acid formation inside asteroid parent bodies, where liquid water may have existed for short periods. However, other amino acids told a different story....

panorama date back billions of years, during a period when Mars was still developing its crust and experiencing frequent asteroid impacts. In a NASA video released alongside the images, scientists describe the area as a “time capsule” from the earliest...

in size to modern mice or rats, belonged to a lineage that survived for more than 100 million years and outlasted the asteroid that ended the reign of non‑avian dinosaurs. Map showing the location of Alaska’s Prince Creek Formation where researchers...