Asteroids
The five: space missions for 2021
After 2020, anyone would be forgiven for wanting to escape Earth, and Mars, the moon and the asteroid belt beckon
Ian Tucker
10, Jan, 2021 @5:30 AM
British engineers to start work on 'comet chaser' probe
Mission will record details about the composition of the astral bodies and could be launched in 2028
Ian Sample Science editor
14, Dec, 2020 @12:01 AM
Hayabusa2 comes home: remarkable space probe could open another window into how life originated
The six-year round trip to an asteroid named Ryugu will end in the red sands of Woomera, Australia
Alice Gorman
04, Dec, 2020 @7:00 PM
Rock of ages: how asteroid dust may reveal secrets of life on Earth
A six-year mission will soon bring back a few grains of soil that could explain how water arrived on our planet
Robin McKie Science editor
15, Nov, 2020 @10:15 AM
Nasa Osiris-Rex spacecraft lands on asteroid Bennu in mission to collect dust
Spacecraft ‘kissed the surface’ in brief landing on asteroid 200m miles away from Earth in US-first mission
Staff and agencies
21, Oct, 2020 @12:45 AM
European Space Agency awards Hera asteroid mission to German firm
Deal worth £118m covers design, manufacturing and testing of ESA’s first planetary defence mission
Stuart Clark
17, Sep, 2020 @8:30 PM
Osiris-Rex mission on course for asteroid sample collection
Nasa spacecraft makes final preparations to gather material from Bennu’s surface in October
Stuart Clark
20, Aug, 2020 @8:30 PM
Nasa Trojan asteroids mission on course for October 2021 launch
Lucy spacecraft has passed its system integration review and can now be assembled and tested
Stuart Clark
06, Aug, 2020 @8:30 PM
Get out of a pickle and into chutney | Brief letters
Brief letters: Making chutney | Lockdown marmalade | Father Jack and Trump | Mathematical fright | Morse code clapping
Letters
29, Apr, 2020 @5:49 PM
Interstellar object ‘Oumuamua believed to be ‘active asteroid’
Scientists believe cigar-shaped visitor to our solar system is fragment of a larger body
Nicola Davis
13, Apr, 2020 @3:00 PM
The moon, Mars and beyond… the space race in 2020
Not since the 1960s have we witnessed such appetite for space missions. Here’s what to expect in the year ahead, from commercial launches to Chinese ambitions
Robin McKie
05, Jan, 2020 @8:00 AM
Be wary of Elon Musk despoiling the ‘vault of heaven’ | Martin Rees
It’s feasible to flood space with flotillas of small satellites – but do we really want to?
Martin Rees
29, Dec, 2019 @8:15 AM
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