Hayabusa 2: returning asteroid sample could help uncover the origins of life and the solar system

If the building blocks of life were present at the time that Earth was born, this could mean life is common in the universe.

John Bridges, Professor of Planetary Science, University of Leicester • conversation
Dec. 4, 2020 • ~7 min

Giant 'toothed' birds flew over Antarctica 40 million to 50 million years ago

Paleontologists have discovered fossil remains belonging to an enormous 'toothed' bird that lived for a period of about 60 million years after dinosaurs.

Peter A. Kloess, Doctoral Candidate, Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley • conversation
Oct. 27, 2020 • ~7 min

Asteroid Bennu: successful touchdown – but sample return mission has only just begun

Bennu will tell us about our own origins as much as about the origin of asteroid Bennu.

Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University • conversation
Oct. 21, 2020 • ~7 min

NASA's OSIRIS-REx will land on an asteroid to bring home rocks and dust – if it can avoid Mt. Doom

OSIRIS-REx will touch down on asteroid Bennu, collect a sample of the dust and begin its journey back to Earth, where scientists will study it, hoping to learn secrets of the solar system's origin.

Elizabeth Cantwell, Professor of Practice for Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Senior Vice President for Research & Innovation, University of Arizona • conversation
Oct. 19, 2020 • ~8 min

Touching the asteroid Ryugu revealed secrets of its surface and changing orbit

It is a pretty spectacular achievement to not only rendezvous with an asteroid as it is whizzing around the Sun but also collect a sample. Here's what the researchers learned.

Paul K. Byrne, Associate Professor of Planetary Science, North Carolina State University • conversation
May 7, 2020 • ~6 min

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