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News Articles: asteroid

This is the last complete image of Dimorphos taken by the DRACO imager on NASA's DART mission before the collision. It shows a patch of the asteroid about 100 feet across, captured from some 7 miles away and two seconds before impact.

This is what NASA's spacecraft saw just seconds before slamming into an asteroid

NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid on Monday night. These are the final images it captured as it hurtled toward the rocky surface.

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By:
  • Rachel Treisman
This illustration shows the DART spacecraft approaching the two asteroids, Didymos and Dimorphos, with a small observing spacecraft nearby.

Move over, Bruce Willis: NASA crashed into an asteroid to test planetary defense

NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a test of planetary defense. Now it will determine whether the mission was able to alter the asteroid's course.

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By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
An illustration of the DART spacecraft approaching two asteroids; it will crash into the smaller one to try to change how this space rock orbits its larger companion.

In a first test of its planetary defense efforts, NASA's going to shove an asteroid

NASA is about to launch the first mission of its new planetary defense office. A spacecraft will attempt to knock a small asteroid off course by ramming into it.

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By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
This computer-generated image shows the Hayabusa2 spacecraft above the asteroid Ryugu. This weekend, the sample collected by the spacecraft arrived on Earth after a six-year mission.

Japanese Capsule Containing Bits Of An Asteroid Returns To Earth

The sample collected by the spacecraft Hayabusa2 caps a six-year mission to Ryugu. Researchers hope it will offer clues to "the secrets of the birth of the solar system and the birth of life."

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By:
  • Colin Dwyer and
  • Jason Slotkin