In the recent papers of JGR: Planets (Journal of Geophysical Research): Cambioni, S. Weiss, B. P. Baijal, N. et al. Formation of Asteroid (16) Psyche by a Giant Impact 2025JE009317 One thing’s not up for debate: (16) Psyche is metal-rich.… Read More »Note, Paper: Psyche Strike Writeup
Just up now from Space Science Reviews (vol. 222): Hegarty, K.P. Kubota, S. Cully, M. et al. The IMAP Observatory Overview Art 16 s11214-026-01272-z No, this isn’t redundant to a previous post. That article was about the IMAP program (including the science… Read More »Space Science Reviews IMAP (the probe)
Posted on AASNova, an aggregator for publications of AAS (the American Astronomical Society): https://aasnova.org/2026/01/28/monthly-roundup-interstellar-visitor-3i-atlas/Kerry Hensley, 28 January 2026 Monthly Roundup: Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS Spoiler: it’s a comet. The release of chunks that, themselves, release gas (“hyperactivity”) is a bit odd,… Read More »ATLAS Jan Wrapup (…so far)
Catching up yet again with Advances In Space Research for 15 Jan 2026 (vol. 77 #2), a mid-month issue: Liu, D. Yan, W. Liu, J. et al. Close-proximity imaging and 3D modeling simulation analysis of asteroid 2016HO3 Pg 2637 .2025.12.002Wu,… Read More »Note, Paper: Close… Maybe Too Close
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
In the February 2026 Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy (vol. 138 #1): Voyatzis, G. Gkolias, I. Gaitanas, M. et al. Terminator periodic orbits around binary asteroids: an application to the ESA Hera mission 2 s10569-025-10274-y Irregular shapes give irregular gravity… Read More »Note, Paper: Dimorphos Sol-oriented Orbits
See also Day 1 Day 2 AgendaWednesday, January 14, 2026, 9:00 AM9:00 AM Terik Daly Welcome Mission Updates (Chairs: Masatoshi Hirabayashi, Daniella DellaGiustina)9:05 AM Alia AlMansoori Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt 2nd Justitia occultation campaign performed yesterday. Asteroid mining… Read More »2026 Winter SBAG Meeting, 2
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