Interesting Engineering on MSN

‘Jigsaw piece’: Bennu reaffirms asteroids sowed earliest seeds of life on Earth

Laboratory analysis has confirmed the presence of the essential amino acid, tryptophan, within the Bennu asteroid samples.

Scientists found tryptophan, the ‘sleepy’ amino acid, in an asteroid. Here’s what it means

An essential amino acid that is mistakenly believed to cause drowsiness after eating turkey has been found in an asteroid for ...
SpaceNews

Science Team Determines Composition of Asteroid Itokawa

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Itokawa, a spud-shaped, near-Earth asteroid, consists mainly of the minerals olivine and pyroxene, a mineral composition similar to a class of stony meteorites that have pelted ...
Yahoo

NASA's robotic prospectors are helping scientists understand what asteroids are made of – setting the stage for miners to follow someday

Mining an asteroid probably won't look exactly like mining does on Earth, but some principles will stay the same. posteriori/iStock via Getty Images The cars, cellphones, computers and televisions ...
CNN

Water molecules detected on the surface of asteroids for the first time

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Water molecules ...
Purdue University

Bringing home asteroids: Purdue scientist is among the first to examine asteroid pieces from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission

To study the planets, someone has to go there: Either a human or a bot launches into space to physically explore other worlds. Scientists who study extraterrestrial materials can’t usually bring their ...
The Atlantic

Asteroids Could Fuel the Clean-Energy Transition

In April 2023, a satellite the size of a microwave launched into space. Its goal: to get ready to mine asteroids. Although the mission, backed by a company called AstroForge, ran into problems, it’s ...
SpaceNews

ESO Images Some Of The Biggest Asteroids In Our Solar System

The detailed images of these 42 objects are a leap forward in exploring asteroids, made possible thanks to ground-based telescopes, and contribute to answering the ultimate question of life, the ...
PBS

How NASA’s robotic prospectors could pave the way for future asteroid miners

The cars, cellphones, computers and televisions that people in the U.S. use every day require metals like copper, cobalt and platinum to build. Demand from the electronics industry for these metals is ...