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LARGE REGIONS OF ROCK AND METAL: PSYCHE ASTEROID ILLUSTRATION This illustration depicts the 140-mile-wide (226-kilometer-wide) asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Psyche is the focal point of NASA?s mission of the same name. The Psyche spacecraft is set to launch in August 2022 and arrive at the asteroid in 2026, where it will orbit for 21 months and investigate its composition. Based on data obtained from Earth, scientists believe Psyche is a mixture of metal and rock. The rock and metal may be in large provinces, or areas, on the asteroid, as illustrated in this rendering. Observing and measuring how the metal and rock are mixed will help scientists determine how Psyche formed. Exploring the asteroid could also give valuable insight into how our own planet and others formed. The Psyche team will use a magnetometer to measure the asteroid?s magnetic field. A multispectral imager will capture images of the surface, as well as data about Psyche?s composition and topography. Spectrometers will analyze the neutrons and gamma rays coming from the surface to reveal the elements that make up the asteroid itself. The illustration was created by Peter Rubin. View or download the full resolution versions from NASA?s Photojournal Date Added: 03-29-2021 Credit: Peter Rubin

Spacecraft are heading to a metal asteroid and Jupiter's moons in 2023

28 December 2022

The JUICE and Psyche mission are set to blast off in 2023, with the aim of studying Jupiter's largest moons and a possible iron core of a planet in the hopes of understanding how worlds become habitable

$Mare Crisium is a large, dark, basaltic plain on the Moon that filled an ancient asteroid impact. Basaltic plains on the Moon were created by early volcanic eruptions. Mare Crisium was flooded with basaltic lava, a dark, runny lava commonly found on Earth. Basaltic plains on the Moon are also known as lunar maria, because of a mistaken belief by early astronomers that these dark areas were oceans ? ?maria? is the Latin word for ?seas.? We now know these spots to be plains of basalt created by early volcanic eruptions, but the nomenclature of ?maria? (plural) or ?mare? (singular) remains. The basalts in Mare Crisium range in age from 2.5 to 3.3 billion years old! These dates come from measuring the radioactive isotope signatures of samples returned from Mare Crisium by the Soviet Luna 24 mission. Along the rim of Mare Crisium lies an outer boundary of wrinkle ridges. Wrinkle ridges are commonly found in places where the surface has contracted. As the surface is compressed, it bends and fractures, and can form complicated patterns of faults and folds.$

Bricks made of dust from the moon and Mars could make space buildings

25 May 2022

Baking a mixture of saltwater and materials that mimic dust from the moon or Mars at a high temperature produced sturdy bricks that could be used to build human habitats in space

Crew of mock lunar 'biosphere' grew food and made oxygen for 200 days

2 March 2021

The inhabitants of China’s Lunar Palace biosphere lived on recycled oxygen and water, and grew their own food for a record-setting 200 days without outside intervention

Physicists find best way for insects to avoid collisions when jumping

21 January 2021

Equations show that jumping at 60 degrees relative to the horizontal helps insects avoid hitting obstacles – a finding that might help in the design of space exploration rovers

We can harness the solar wind to sail to the farthest corners of space

28 October 2020

Rockets eventually run out of fuel, which limits how far they can go. But now we are mastering the art of solar sailing, we can expect to keep exploring into distant, uncharted space

Space rock Arrokoth may have been flattened by the heat of the sun

5 October 2020

The surface of Arrokoth, an oddly flat body on the edge of the solar system, may have been boiled away by heat from the sun

Martin Rees: We will become a new species by expanding beyond Earth

18 December 2019

Heading into deep space will lead to a new species of human evolving, says the UK Astronomer Royal - and could pave the way to immortals who can conquer the galaxy

The inside story on 'Oumuamua and other interstellar worlds

2 December 2019

In 2017, a mysterious asteroid from a different solar system passed near Earth. Astrophysicist Michele Bannister has the inside story on ’Oumuamua

Elon Musk's SpaceX or a superpower: Who'll win the new space race?

15 May 2019

Nations from the US to China and companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX are vying to leave Earth again. But why – and are we ready for a second space age?