Asteroids Exploration
NASA has sent several robotic spacecraft to encounter asteroids up close. The agency also uses space and ground-based telescopes to scan the skies for asteroids. Here are highlights from some of those missions.
Featured NASA Asteroid Missions
NEO Surveyor
Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is the first space telescope specifically designed to hunt asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth. As it scans the solar system, NEO Surveyor's sensitive infrared detectors will let it track the most elusive near-Earth objects. Dark asteroids and comets don't reflect much visible light, for example, but they will glow in the infrared spectrum as they're heated by sunlight. The project is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
WISE/NEOWISE
After its primary mission ended, the WISE space telescope started it’s second act as NEOWISE. In late 2013, the spacecraft was assigned a new mission by NASA’s Planetary Science Division to help NASA identify and describe near-Earth objects (NEOs).
OSIRIS-REx/OSIRIS-APEX
Launched on Sept. 8, 2016, NASA's OSIRIS-REx arrived at near-Earth asteroid Bennu in 2018, and collected a sample of dust and rocks. On Sept. 24, 2023, the spacecraft flew by Earth and dropped off the asteroid sample capsule. It didn't land, and has a new assignment and a new name: It's now called OSIRIS-APEX and will explore asteroid Apophis.
Psyche
The Psyche spacecraft is on its way to a unique metal-rich asteroid with the same name, orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. By August 2029 the spacecraft will begin exploring asteroid Psyche, which scientists think may be the partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of an early planet.
Lucy
NASA's Lucy mission will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids in the solar system’s main asteroid belt, and Trojan asteroids that share an orbit around the Sun with Jupiter. Launched on Oct. 16, 2021, Lucy has already made discoveries. On Nov. 1, 2023, Lucy made its first asteroid encounter - an asteroid with a contact binary asteroid as its moonlet.
DART
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration – successfully impacted asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 27, 2022, in the agency’s first attempt to move an asteroid in space. Dimorphos is a moonlet to asteroid Didymos.
Dawn
NASA's Dawn spacecraft was launched in 2007 to explore asteroid Vesta, the second most massive body in the main asteroid belt. Dawn arrived at Vesta in 2011, then orbited and explored Vesta for over a year before leaving in September 2012 to explore dwarf planet Ceres.
Galileo
NASA's Galileo mission was the first spacecraft to fly past an asteroid. It flew past asteroid Gaspra in 1991, and asteroid Ida in 1993.
NEAR Shoemaker
NASA's NEAR was the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid, and also was the first spacecraft to land on one. Launched on Feb. 17, 1996, NEAR flew by asteroid Mathilde on June 27, 1997. Then on Feb. 14, 2000, NEAR began orbiting asteroid Eros. On Feb. 12, 2001, NEAR touched down on Eros – the first time a U.S. spacecraft was the first to land on a celestial body.
Deep Space 1
Deep Space 1 (DS1) was designed to test new technologies for future deep space and interplanetary missions. As a bonus, the spacecraft also flew by asteroid 9969 Braille on July 29, 1999, at a range of about 16 miles (26 kilometers).
Stardust/Stardust NExT
NASA's Stardust was the first spacecraft to bring samples from a comet to Earth. Launched on Feb. 7, 1999, the spacecraft flew within 155 miles (250 kilometers) of comet P/Wild 2 and collected samples of dust and volatiles from the comet's coma. On Nov. 2, 2002, it flew by and imaged asteroid 5535 Annefrank. The spacecraft was given an extended mission known as New Exploration of Tempel 1 (NExT) that included a flyby of Comet Tempel 1.
