A trio of asteroid stories: OSIRIS-REx’s sample of Bennu on schedule to return; researchers develop method to map asteroid density distribution; and 3200 Phaethon’s rotation speeds up. — Science can be a long game, especially when dealing with space science. Distances are astronomical; scales are measured in millions and billions. And while our asteroid belt isn’t far away, astronomically speaking, researchers have had to do a lot of waiting — waiting for missions to be designed, approved, launched…

Computer models find that eruptions seen on Europa are likely coming from shallow lakes embedded in the ice rather than the subsurface ocean as expected. — Jupiter’s moon Europa likely has a global subsurface ocean that could be habitable. For that reason, NASA is sending the Europa Clipper spacecraft to collect data on the icy moon and possibly even sample some of the plumes that erupt from the surface. …

NASA JPL is developing a new suite of instruments to ingest and analyze liquid samples, and a team of scientists thinks that they can use nitrous oxide as a biosignature. — The search for life beyond Earth is one of the more fascinating scientific endeavors currently underway. Without a way to place robots or humans on distant worlds both within and outside our solar system, scientists have been working to come up with methods that will work from a distance.

New geological evidence finds that Vredefort crater in South Africa was originally 250–280 kilometers in diameter and formed by an object 20–25 kilometers wide. — When we talk about planetary defense, especially in the context of the DART mission, mass extinction events — such as the Chicxulub impact — tend to come up in conversation. That particular event involved an impactor about ten kilometers in diameter which left a crater 180 kilometers across. Not only…

On Monday, September 26, in front of a global audience, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test successfully hit the tiny, 160-meter asteroid Dimorphos. — Congratulations to the DART mission teams! On Monday, September 26, at 23:14 UTC, in front of a global audience, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test successfully hit the tiny, 160-meter asteroid Dimorphos. Images streamed in from the onboard camera, DRACO, as the spacecraft approached the rocky surface, ending with a barely…

An analysis of grains sampled from the asteroid Ryugu finds that the parent body likely formed about two million years after the formation of the solar system. — Didymos and Dimorphos may have all the current media attention, but let’s not forget that Hayabusa2 collected two samples from the asteroid Ryugu, which arrived back on Earth at the end of 2020. Wait… 2020 is over? When did that happen? Anyway, the samples were divided up among several space…

JWST captured a pair of infrared images of Mars taken at two different wavelengths that reveal thermal features due to sunlight. — If it feels like we’re getting a lot of “JWST does something for the first time” stories this year… it’s because we are. That’s by design for a couple of reasons. One, obviously, is to get the public excited about the capabilities of a telescope that went into massive cost…

Scientists have used computer modeling to determine that Saturn’s rings were created by the interactions of a now-destroyed moon with Titan. — Ask almost any astronomer, professional or amateur, what got them interested in space and almost every one of them will have a story about the first time they looked through a telescope and saw Saturn. I still remember my first time, using a cheap, department store telescope my foster brother…