Asteroids_and_comets Space_exploration

comet 103p/hartley



asteroid 4 vesta, imaged dawn spacecraft

until advent of space travel, objects in asteroid belt merely pinpricks of light in largest telescopes, shapes , terrain remaining mystery. several asteroids have been visited probes, first of galileo, flew past two: 951 gaspra in 1991, followed 243 ida in 1993. both of these lay near enough galileo s planned trajectory jupiter visited @ acceptable cost. first landing on asteroid performed near shoemaker probe in 2000, following orbital survey of object. dwarf planet ceres , asteroid 4 vesta, 2 of 3 largest asteroids, visited nasa s dawn spacecraft, launched in 2007.

although many comets have been studied earth centuries-worth of observations, few comets have been closely visited. in 1985, international cometary explorer conducted first comet fly-by (21p/giacobini-zinner) before joining halley armada studying famous comet. deep impact probe smashed 9p/tempel learn more structure , composition , stardust mission returned samples of comet s tail. philae lander landed on comet churyumov–gerasimenko in 2014 part of broader rosetta mission.

hayabusa unmanned spacecraft developed japan aerospace exploration agency return sample of material small near-earth asteroid 25143 itokawa earth further analysis. hayabusa launched on 9 may 2003 , rendezvoused itokawa in mid-september 2005. after arriving @ itokawa, hayabusa studied asteroid s shape, spin, topography, color, composition, density, , history. in november 2005, landed on asteroid collect samples. spacecraft returned earth on 13 june 2010.