Skywatch 2013: Close Call with Asteroid – Viewing Resources!

It’s coming to a sky near you – a late Valentine’s Day gift from the heavens! On February 15, a small asteroid is flying by within 18,000 miles of Earth. The asteroid, known as 2012 DA14, was discovered last year and is roughly the size of a school gymnasium (130 to...

Book Review: Near-Earth Objects – Finding Them Before They Find Us

Near-Earth Objects – Finding Them Before They Find Us by Donald K. Yeomans; Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey; $24.95; 2013. This is a superb book that brings the reader up-to-speed on those menacing denizens of the deep – Near Earth Objects, or...

Asteroid Mining Update from the Factory Floor

The private space group – Planetary Resources – headquartered near Seattle, Washington is pushing forward on its Arkyd-100 – the firm’s space telescope and technology demonstrator for their Arkyd series of asteroid prospecting missions. The Arkyd-100 series is the...

Wanted: Smashing Ideas for Asteroid Mission

It is dubbed the Asteroid Impact and Deflection mission – AIDA. The European Space Agency (ESA) is appealing for research ideas to help guide the development of a U.S.-European asteroid deflection mission now under study. Concepts are being sought for both ground- and...