Again, more goodies in Space Science Reviews for the new year (volume 222): Zhang, R. Zhang, H. Liu, J. et al. Tianwen-2 Mission of China’s Planetary Exploration Program 11 s11214-026-01268-9 The Tianwen-2 mission, launched last year, will rendezvous with asteroid… Read More »Space Science Reviews Tianwen-2
Nothing from Space Science Reviews for a while, then Boom (vol. 222): Palomba, E. Dirri, F. Gisellu, C. et al. VISTA: Dust and Volatile Sensor for the ESA Hera Mission 10 s11214-026-01266-x The Hera mission to asteroid Didymos and its… Read More »Space Science Reviews Milani-VISTA
Catching up with arXiv.org‘s posts: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics > arxiv.org/abs/2601.06759Lisse, C. M. Bach, Y. P. Bryan, S. A. et al. SPHEREx Re-Observation of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS in December 2025: Detection of Increased Post-Perihelion Activity, Refractory Coma Dust, and New… Read More »ATLAS Gas and Scatterer Scan
Much like the last community survey: NASA Infrared Telescope Facility Strategic Planning: Seeking Community Input The IRTF is, by some metrics, the top telescope for doing asteroid follow-up. It is a major asset within our community. Less often, it is… Read More »IRTF 2026 User Survey
Just out from Nature Geoscience (15 January 2026): Kitazato, K. Sakurai, S. Hyodo, R. et al. Surface rejuvenation of stony near-Earth asteroids triggered by planetary shadows s41561-025-01907-w We see active asteroids, including at least one (maybe multiple) that give us… Read More »Note, Paper: Eclipse Chips Spits Scrip
Yes, it’s time again for SBAG (NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group), this time the Winter meeting: 34th Meeting of the NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG)January 13–14, 2026 https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/sbagjan2026/technical_program/?session_no=101 Tuesday, January 13, 2026, 8:30 AM8:30 AM Darryl Seligman Early-Career Icebreaker9:25… Read More »2026 Winter SBAG Meeting, 1
Over the weekend, the Pandora space telescope was launched. Pandora is a small, near-infrared telescope, small enough to be built atop a commercial smallsat bus. This smallsat was in turn mated to a commercial, multi-satellite deployer on its launch vehicle;… Read More »Pandora Mission Launched
Holding on to this paper in Nat Commun Earth Environ (vol. 6, 2025) Discenza, M. E. Brunetti, M. T. Molaro, L. et al. Evidence for landslides triggered by impact events on Ceres Art 1042 s43247-025-03119-x Impacts cause craters, no doubt.… Read More »Note, Paper: Bolide Rockslide Writeup
So-so Icarus for Feb 2026 (vol 445): Rider-Stokes, B. G. Wong, A. Y. C. Burbine, T. H. et al. The Noritic mineralogy of V- and S-type objects and the links with asteroid (4) Vesta Art 116844 /j.icarus.2025.116844Castro-Cisneros, J. D. Malhotra,… Read More »Note, Paper: Rock Path Track Math
Good MNRAS (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society) for January 2026: Volume 545, #1Trigo-Rodríguez, J. M. Grèbol-Tomàs, P. Ibáñez-Insa, J. et al. Assessing the metal and rare earth element mining potential of undifferentiated asteroids through the study of carbonaceous… Read More »Note, Paper: Flying-Mass MNRAS