IRON AND ICE

News About Asteroids And Comets

2,240 articles

Small Near-Earth Asteroids Show Distinct Composition From Larger Objects, Study Finds
May 04, 2026 (SPX)
The study, led by Dr. Nick Moskovitz of Lowell Observatory, analyzed 189 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and identified a clear compositional shift as object size d...
Small-Body Robot Review Charts Path From Module Design to System-Level Co-Design
May 04, 2026 (SPX)
The paper, produced by researchers at the Harbin Institute of Technology, covers the full landscape of approaches developed and flown to date, drawing on lesson...
Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Reveals a Birthplace Far Colder Than Our Solar System
Apr 23, 2026 (SPX)
The finding rests on the observation that 3I/ATLAS is remarkably rich in a specific form of water containing deuterium, a heavier isotope of hydrogen. The team'...
Ingredients of life discovered in Ryugu asteroid samples
Mar 30, 2026 (AFP)
The discovery comes after these building blocks of life were detected on another asteroid called Bennu, suggesting they are abundant throughout the Solar System...
Webb observations confirm safe lunar pass for asteroid 2024 YR4
Mar 30, 2026 (SPX)
The Webb campaign targeted 2024 YR4 under a Director's Discretionary Time program designed to refine the asteroid's orbit using the observatory's extreme sensit...
Ryugu samples record early solar system magnetic fields
Mar 29, 2026 (SPX)
The near-Earth asteroid Ryugu is a small, primitive, carbon-rich rubble pile thought to be a remnant of a larger parent body that was shattered early in solar s...
DART images show slow motion rock exchange between binary asteroids
Mar 11, 2026 (SPX)
A team led by the University of Maryland examined high resolution images that DART captured just before it deliberately impacted the small asteroid moon Dimorph...
NASA defense test kicked asteroid off course -- and changed its orbit around the sun
Mar 06, 2026 (AFP)
The experiment pushed the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos into a smaller, faster route around its sibling Didymos -- and according to new research out Friday, it als...
Simulations reveal how Kuiper Belt snowman worlds form
Feb 21, 2026 (SDX)
Graduate researcher Jackson Barnes has developed what the team describes as the first simulation that naturally produces these two-lobed shapes through gravitat...
ESA signs Ramses spacecraft and cubesat deals for Apophis flyby
Feb 16, 2026 (SPX)
The new contract, valued at 81.2 million euros, was signed at ESAs ESTEC technology centre in the Netherlands and initiates the construction, assembly and testi...
Amino acids in Bennu asteroid hint at icy radioactive origin
Feb 10, 2026 (SPX)
The team analyzed a small amount of Bennu material, delivered to Earth in 2023 by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, using specialized instruments that can measure isot...
ExLabs taps SpacePilot autonomy for Apophis asteroid mission
Feb 05, 2026 (SPX)
The Apophis mission is scheduled for launch during the asteroid's 2029 close-approach window, with spacecraft integration, demonstration activities, and autonom...
ExLabs and ChibaTech team up to land student CubeLanders on asteroid Apophis
Jan 21, 2026 (SPX)
Under the leadership of planetary scientist and PERC Director, Dr. Tomoko Arai, ChibaTech students and researchers are developing two landing payloads that will...
Asteroid metals harden under extreme particle blasts
Jan 09, 2026 (SPX)
Recent missions such as NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which changed the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos in 2022, demonstrate that redirecting ...
Iron rich asteroids show surprising resilience in impact simulation study
Jan 08, 2026 (SPX)
Recent demonstration missions such as NASA s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which altered the orbit of the small asteroid Dimorphos in 2022, have proven that...
NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory spots record-breaking asteroid in pre-survey observations
Jan 08, 2026 (SPX)
The study was led by Sarah Greenstreet, NSF NOIRLab assistant astronomer and lead of Rubin Observatory's Solar System Science Collaboration's Near-Earth Objects...
Micro X ray method reads ancient meteorite impact scars
Dec 14, 2025 (SPX)
The study, led by Dr. Matthew Izawa of Okayama University, examined 11 enstatite chondrites that span the full range of recognized shock stages from S1 to S5. U...
ICE-CSIC leads a pioneering study on the feasibility of asteroid mining
Dec 11, 2025 (SPX)
In a natural way, carbonaceous chondrites fall from the sky, although with a proportion of 5% regarding the rest of meteorite falls. However, many of them are s...
OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft completes Earth flyby on its journey to explore Apophis
Nov 26, 2025 (SPX)
During the Sept. 23 flyby, the spacecraft passed about 2,136 miles (3,438 kilometers) above Earth while collecting a rich set of images and measurements to cali...
Lunar impactor Theia originated near Earth and Sun analysis reveals
Nov 21, 2025 (SPX)
The collision with Theia dramatically altered Earth's size, composition, and orbit, marking the birth of the Moon. Although Theia was destroyed in the event, it...
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