A capsule containing cometary and interstellar material collected by the Stardust spacecraft successfully landed in Utah yesterday, becoming the first mission to return samples from beyond the Earth-Moon system.
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The Japanese Space Agency will postpone the return to Earth flight of Hayabusa to 2010, after losing contact with the probe. The announcement came shortly the Agency learnt that the second asteroid sample collection probably failed.
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Hayabusa's second attempt to collect a sample from the surface of Itokawa was successful, making it the first spacecraft to collect asteroid material.
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The Japanese space agency has announced that their spacecraft Hayabusa did in fact land on asteroid Itokawa on Saturday, but the equipment designed to collect a sample was not deployed.
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The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft failed in its first attempt to collect a sample of material from asteroid Itokawa. The target marker, containing an aluminium sheet with hundreds of UK names printed on, was successfully deployed to the surface.
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The names of hundreds of visitors of the National Space Centre are due to land on asteroid Itokawa on Saturday, when the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft prepares to collect a sample of material.
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Japan's Hayabusa mission to Itokawa has failed to land its MINERVA probe on the asteroid's surface. Hayabusa's main objective, to collect material from Itokawa's surface to return to Earth, is still planned for later this month.
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Two NASA astronauts have designed a spacecraft that could use gravity as a towline to change the course of asteroids. The technique could be used in the future to prevent asteroids striking the Earth.
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The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft has arrived at a spot 20 kilometres above asteroid Itokawa, where it will hover for three months, collecting data. The probe will then collect a sample from the surface of the asteroid and return it to Earth for analysis.
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NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has successfully crashed its impactor into comet Tempel-1. Both ground and space-based telescopes watched the collision at around 6:50 BST, which threw up a huge plume of debris.
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Former astronaut Russell Schweickart has outlined plans to send a radio transmitter to land on asteroid 2004 MN4. The asteroid will pass within the orbit of the Earth's geostationary satellites in 2029.
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A science committee in the US Congress has passed a bill to provide $40 million to NASA's search for Near Earth Asteroids. The money will be used to detect, track and study objects larger than 100 metres wide.
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The Torino scale, used to rate threats from asteroids and comets, has been altered to better distinguish between objects that warrant further observations by astronomers and those warranting public concern.
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Recent research has led to a new theory about the formation of the residue left by an asteroid impact, 65 million years ago. The theory suggests the collision not only melted, but vaporised the rock, forming small droplets found in the residue.
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A computer simulation has shown the object that caused the Meteor (Barringer) Crater in Arizona, 50 000 years ago, was fragmented and travelling much slower than previously thought.
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