Mile-Stones: Great Moments in Asteroid Exploration
Here are some of the key “firsts” in humanity’s exploration of the asteroids so far.
Asteroids like Bennu (pictured) are objects of interest to planetary scientists because of what they can reveal about the formation of our solar system, the risk of future impacts and the potential resources they hold that may one day be put to use in the development of space. Here are some of the key “firsts” in humanity’s exploration of the asteroids so far…NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Supplied
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft was passing through the asteroid belt on its way to Jupiter in October 1991 when it captured the first asteroid close up. This colour-enhanced view of Gaspra shows it to be an irregularly shaped rocky world about 19 km long.NASA
Eros is a 34-by-11 kilometre asteroid that does a complete end over end rotation every five hours and 15 minutes. NASA’s NEAR-Shoemaker probe became the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid when it reached Eros in February 2000 and then touched down on its surface one year later, despite not being designed as a lander.NASA/JPL/JHUAPL
Launched in 2003, Japan’s Hayabusa mission was sent to the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa and arrived two and a half years later. While its effort to capture a sample of the 535-metre long asteroid was thwarted by technical problems the probe eventually made it back to Earth in 2010 where scientists discovered about 1500 microscopic grains of asteroid dust like this one clinging to the interior of the return capsule.JAXA
With a diameter of 940 kilometres, Ceres contains more mass than all other asteroids combined and is classified as a dwarf planet. When NASA’S Dawn mission went into orbit around Ceres in March 2015 it revealed a complex surface with signs of chemical alteration by water and curious bright patches that are thought to be salt deposits.NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) involved firing a 580 kilogram spacecraft into the tiny asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022. The point of the exercise was to see if the tiny body’s orbit around a larger asteroid could be measurably altered and test the possibility of nudging an asteroid that may be on a collision course with Earth. In this view, the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope spotted the explosive impact from afar.NASA/ESA/STSci