News

Q&A: How we’re gearing up to deflect asteroids that might cause Earth considerable damage 480 270 NEO MAPP

Q&A: How we’re gearing up to deflect asteroids that might cause Earth considerable damage

by Natalie Grover Humans are also considering mining asteroids for metals, but one of the crucial reasons scientists study this ancient space rubble is planetary defence, given the potential for space debris to cause Earth harm. Accordingly, NASA is planning a 2022 planetary defence mission that involves…

An asteroid disruption event shown here in a stereo gif created by Brian May and Claudia Manzoni.
Brian May helps show Hera’s target asteroid may be a celestial dust bunny 600 338 NEO MAPP

Brian May helps show Hera’s target asteroid may be a celestial dust bunny

An asteroid disruption event shown here in a stereo gif created by Brian May and Claudia Manzoni. Credit: Brian May/Claudia Manzoni – London Stereoscopic Company An international research group, including Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May, has shown how the same forces responsible for building…

Jean-Baptiste Vincent: How Similar Are Asteroids and Comets? 480 270 NEO MAPP

Jean-Baptiste Vincent: How Similar Are Asteroids and Comets?

Once it seemed so simple: asteroids were rocky bodies that lived close to the Sun, travelling around on more or less circular orbits. Comets on the other hand were icy bodies that spent most of their time in the further reaches of the solar system,…

Naomi Murdoch: Asteroids are More Than Just Space Rocks 512 288 NEO MAPP

Naomi Murdoch: Asteroids are More Than Just Space Rocks

Naomi Murdoch We’ve all heard asteroids described as space rocks, but that’s nowhere near the whole story. The more we learn about them, the more we realise that asteroids are truly alien environments. And for planetary scientist Naomi Murdoch, ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse, France, that’s the fascinating…

Albert Falke: Paving the First Track on the Trail 480 270 NEO MAPP

Albert Falke: Paving the First Track on the Trail

When it comes to asteroids, there are many questions that scientists would like to answer. To get those answers, however, often requires building a spacecraft to go to the asteroids themselves – and that is where the engineers like Dr Albert Falke come in.  …

Cratered Boulders Reveal Asteroid Bennu’s Recent Past 450 310 NEO MAPP

Cratered Boulders Reveal Asteroid Bennu’s Recent Past

By studying small impact craters on the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, a team of researchers led by Ron Ballouz, University of Arizona, and including NEO-MAPP’s Patrick Michel, CNRS/Université Côte d’Azur/Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice, France, has uncovered the asteroid’s storied past. The…

Start Typing