asteroids
How Top Secret Nuke Sensor Data Confirmed the First Interstellar Object on Earth
A freedom of information act request unearthed emails from the Los Alamos National Lab as they struggled to balance secrecy and scientific discovery.
Scientists Discover ‘Uncontaminated Extraterrestrial Materials’ In Ancient Asteroid Sample
Samples from the potentially hazardous asteroid Ryugu contain never-before-seen features.
Asteroids Could Truly be Responsible for Forming Earth's Continents, Study Finds
The Australian study is the first of its kind to find physical evidence that asteroids shaped the Earth's surface.
‘Simulant’ Is the Boom Industry of the New Space Age
Creating fake space dirt mimicking the Moon, Mars, and unexplored planets can be dangerous and difficult, but business is booming.
China Will Test Planetary Defense by Crashing a Spacecraft into An Asteroid
China's plans are similar to a NASA mission that will slam into an asteroid later this year.
We Are in a Golden Age of Asteroid Discoveries
Bill Bottke, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, talks about exciting emerging research into asteroids on Motherboard’s Space Show.
This Ancient Crystal from Mars Could Shed Light on Alien Life
A tiny zircon crystal offers “direct physical evidence of large impacts, some potentially life-affecting” that persisted on ancient Mars, reports a new study.
There's a Giant Dog Bone-Shaped Asteroid In Space, And We Have the Best Pictures of It Yet
The asteroid Kleopatra and its two moons have resisted explanation for more than a decade—until now.
Meet the Scientists Investigating a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid
OSIRIS REx scientists talk about asteroid Bennu, one of the most hazardous known space rocks, in the latest episode of Motherboard’s “Space Show.”
The Odds of This Dangerous Asteroid Hitting Earth Just Went Up
The odds of asteroid Bennu hitting Earth are still extremely low, NASA said in an update, but an impact could be disastrous.
Scientists Tried and Failed to Stop a Hypothetical Deadly Asteroid in an Exercise
Despite putting all options on the table, including nukes, "the exercise played out that we basically had to take the hit,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer.
NASA Has a Plan to Punch an Asteroid With a Spaceship to Protect Earth
Planetary astronomer Andy Rivkin talks to VICE News about the first flight demonstration of planetary defense, called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission.