<ul class="summary-list"><li>On Saturday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-advances-asteroid-tracking-space-telescope-after-years-of-limbo-2021-6">NASA</a> plans to launch its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/osiris-rex-spacecraft-asteroids-trojan-2016-12">Lucy</a> probe to the Trojan <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-hit-ancient-middle-eastern-city-inspired-sodom-bible-story-2021-9">asteroids</a> that orbit the sun with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-years-of-stunning-jupiter-photos-nasa-juno-mission-2021-9">Jupiter</a>. </li><li>The Trojans are like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fossil-footprints-humans-occupied-north-america-ice-age-2021-9">fossils</a>, unchanged since the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-animation-reveals-planets-wildly-different-speeds-2021-8">solar system</a> was born 4.6 billion years ago.</li><li><keyword id="12264053" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lucy" source="Orion">Lucy</keyword> aims to visit eight <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-simulation-reveals-need-years-of-warning-2021-5">asteroids</a> - a record number of encounters.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hubble-space-telescope-wind-changes-jupiter-great-red-spot-2021-9">NASA</a> is about to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-launching-film-crew-to-space-station-2021-9">launch</a> an ambitious mission to explore swarms of <keyword id="12253294" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="asteroids" source="Orion">asteroids</keyword> as old as our <keyword id="11910185" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="solar-system" source="Orion">solar system</keyword>.</p><p>Those asteroids, called Trojans, orbit the sun alongside <keyword id="11949137" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jupiter" source="Orion">Jupiter</keyword>. One group of them leads the gas giant along its orbital path, and another group trails behind. These space rocks formed during the birth of our solar system nearly 4.6 billion years ago and have remained largely unchanged ever since.</p><div type="image" title="atlas v rocket lifting off" height="1920" width="1279" msid="87050188" hostid="261"></div><p>Scientists want to find out what those time capsules hold, so <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> is sending a 52-foot-wide spacecraft, called Lucy, to investigate. The probe is set to launch aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday morning.</p><p>Lucy is scheduled to visit eight asteroids over the next 12 years. One of those space rocks is in the solar system's main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter, which Lucy will pass on its way to the other seven asteroids, which are part of the Trojans.</p><p>"These objects we view as being the fossils of planet formation," Hal Levison, the mission's principal investigator, said in a briefing last month.</p><div type="image" title="animated diagram of trojan asteroid leading following jupiter on orbit around the sun" height="500" width="500" msid="86839250" hostid="261"></div><p>That's where Lucy gets its name - it's a reference to the famous 3.2-million-year-old fossilized human ancestor. At the time of her discovery, in 1974, Lucy was the oldest, most complete hominin skeleton ever found. She was evidence that human ancestors walked upright, which helped paleoanthropologists piece together humans' evolutionary history. Scientists hope that <keyword id="12264054" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trojan-asteroids" source="Orion">Trojan asteroids</keyword> can do the same for the outer solar system.</p><p>"Some of the most important planetary <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">science</keyword> questions we're trying to answer are focused on the origin and the evolution of the solar system. Asteroids and other small bodies are really important keys to understanding that history," Lori Glaze, NASA's director of planetary science, said in the briefing.</p><div type="image" title="lucy spacecraft folded up with rocket shell closing around it" height="2136" width="1700" msid="86839251" hostid="261"></div><p>Lucy's planned journey would lead it to visit more asteroids than any prior spacecraft. It will also venture further from the sun than any solar-powered probe has ever gone.</p><h2>Watch live as Lucy launches into space</h2><p>Liftoff is scheduled for 5:34 a.m. ET on Saturday. NASA plans to start its live launch broadcast at 5 a.m. in the video embedded below.</p><p>If weather delays the launch, NASA has another 22 days in its window, with an hour-long launch opportunity each morning.</p><h2>Close encounters of the asteroid kind</h2><div type="image" title="trojan asteroids illustration rocks in space leading and following jupiter" height="1440" width="1920" msid="86839252" hostid="261"></div><p>Lucy's mission is seven years in the making. The original plan called for visits to just two asteroids, but NASA grew more ambitious as engineers and scientists designed the spacecraft and plotted its journey.</p><p>Now, the probe has a record-breaking lineup. Some of its eight stops are two-for-ones: One asteroid has its own satellite - a smaller rock trapped in its orbit - and two of Lucy's targets are a pair of binary asteroids that circle each other.</p><p>But Lucy's encounter with each space rock will be brief. The spacecraft can't slow down or land - that would require too much propellant - so it will zip within 600 miles of their surfaces, moving 3 to five 5 miles per second.</p><p>During the few hours in which it approaches and passes the asteroids, Lucy's scientific instruments will collect data on their composition, density, and size. It could even discover rocks or rings circling the asteroids - features too small to see from Earth.</p><p>By the end of Lucy's journey, NASA expects to have spent $981.1 million on the mission, according to Glaze.</p><h2>Lucy has to revisit Earth 3 times to hit its targets</h2><div type="image" title="lucy spacecraft trajectory diagram" height="2813" width="3750" msid="86839253" hostid="261"></div><p>Scientists have identified over 7,000 Trojan asteroids, split into three major types. One group resembles the space rocks in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, while the other two resemble icy objects in the Kuiper Belt on the outskirts of the solar system.</p><p>This suggests that the various types of Trojans formed through different processes, and in different parts of the solar system. Scientists aren't sure how they ended up together along Jupiter's orbit. So Lucy will visit asteroids of each type in an attempt to find out.</p><p>"Covering this diversity is key. And finding a trajectory that actually will allow us to visit all these types of objects has been a real chore," Levison said.</p><p>To reach all of its destinations, in fact, Lucy has to circle back to Earth three times to get a momentum boost from our planet's gravity. That will make it the first spacecraft to travel to Jupiter's orbit and back.</p><h2>NASA is going all in on asteroids</h2><div type="image" title="DART nasa mission approaching asteroid image edited for thumbnail" height="1406" width="2500" msid="86839254" hostid="261"></div><p>NASA is sending probes to asteroids scattered all over the solar system.</p><p>"Lucy is part of a collection of ambitious missions to study the diversity of these asteroid populations that will help us fill in more pieces of that cosmic puzzle," Glaze said.</p><p>NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has been studying asteroids and other objects in the Kuiper Belt, beyond Neptune, since it flew past Pluto in 2015.</p><p>The agency's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-bennu-is-hollow-spinning-to-death-2020-11">OSIRIS-REx</a> spacecraft, meanwhile, landed on an asteroid last year, punched into its surface, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-spacecraft-stored-pounds-of-rock-2020-10">scooped a sample of rock</a>. That probe is on its way back to Earth with the sample in tow. Japan recently completed a similar mission and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-japan-asteroid-sample-treasure-box-returns-2020-12">brought its own asteroid samples to Earth</a>, so NASA and Japan's space agency plan to trade bits of their samples.</p><div type="image" title="osiris rex landing crush rock" height="1024" width="1024" msid="86839255" hostid="261"></div><p>Other missions aim to prepare for the possibility that an asteroid could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dinosaurs-going-extinct-before-asteroid-hit-earth-study-2021-6">strike our planet</a>. Next month, NASA plans to launch a spacecraft to slam into a nearby asteroid. That mission, called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is testing a method that could deflect space rocks off of a collision course with Earth. NASA is also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-advances-asteroid-tracking-space-telescope-after-years-of-limbo-2021-6">working on a new space telescope, called NEO (near-Earth object) Surveyor,</a> which would help scientists catalogue dangerous asteroids in our neighborhood.</p><p>Next year, NASA plans to launch yet another probe, called Psyche, to a metallic asteroid that could be the leftover core of an ancient planet.</p><p>"All of these are incredibly interesting destinations. And in each case, we're exploring places no spacecraft has ever been, so we won't know for sure what we'll discover till we get there," Glaze said. "But we know that whatever Lucy finds will give us vital clues about the formation of our solar system."</p><p><em>This post has been updated. It was originally published on October 7, 2021.</em></p>

Watch NASA launch a spacecraft to explore ancient asteroids that lead and trail Jupiter around the sun

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p><p class="caption">An Atlas V rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla., capped by NASA's asteroid Bennu-bound OSIRIS-REx probe, just before launch.</p></div><p></p></div></div>NASA successfully launched a space probe bound for the asteroid Bennu Thursday, September 8 at 7:05 p.m. ET.</p><p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/about">OSIRIS-REx</a>, short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification-Regolith Explorer, should reach the near-Earth asteroid by 2018. "Near" is a relative term here, since <a href="http://www.asteroidmission.org/why-bennu/">Bennu is about 121 million miles</a> away.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-sampling-mission-2016-9">NASA scientists are hoping</a> the nearly $1 billion mission will help them unravel how life began on Earth, how the solar system formed, and how to protect our planet from stray asteroids like Bennu.</p><p>The 190-foot tall Atlas V rocket launched right on time in perfect weather conditions from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Thursday, bound for Bennu:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"></div></div></p><p>Once OSIRIS-REx reaches the asteroid is when the real nail-biting part of the mission begins.</p><p>It would be too tricky to land on the asteroid, so the space probe will reach out its 10-foot robotic arm to poke Bennu and capture just about 2 ounces of dust. After a two year journey, this sample collection will take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0FxDxs7lyw">just five seconds</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p><p class="caption">An artist's rendition of OSIRIS-REx collecting the dirt sample on Bennu.</p></div><p></p></div></div>OSIRIS-REx will store the sample for its return trip to Earth. In 2023, just the container holding the sample will re-enter the atmosphere and fall down to Earth, aided by a parachute. NASA expects it to land in Utah, and scientists can begin studying the sample. </p><p>This launch occurred exactly a week after <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-rocket-exploded-falcon-9-2016-9">SpaceX's planned launch of a satellite for Facebook exploded</a> on the launch pad. Luckily, the explosion was at a location down the road from NASA's launch pad for the asteroid mission, so the agency didn't face any delays.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/osiris-rex-nasas-1-billion-mission-2016-9">NASA's next mission is collecting 'scientific treasure' that could answer one of life's greatest mysteries</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="p0YWdxNTE6TIm8aDSJ0WplDSlYxWrSjP" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

NASA successfully launches a nearly $1 billion mission to an asteroid millions of miles away

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Tonight, NASA will launch a rocket-fueled, minivan-sized spacecraft on a seven-year-journey through space - all for a pile of dirt. But this isn't just any dirt. This dirt could hold the key to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-sampling-mission-2016-9">answering some of our biggest questions about the universe</a>, such as where we came from, and why we exist.<p>The mission: <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/">OSIRIS-Rex</a>, the United States' first asteroid sample return mission ... ever. The destination: An asteroid named <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/subject/6880/bennu/">Bennu</a>, a cosmic time capsule of sorts that contains dusty, 4.5-billion-year old relics from the birth of our solar system. It will take the spacecraft two years to traverse the 120-mile-distance between Earth and Bennu.</p><p>But the road trip doesn't end there. When OSIRIS-Rex finally reaches Bennu in September 2019, it will pump the brakes and slow down to a leisurely 63,000-mile-per-hour tread to match the speed at which Bennu hurtles around the sun. After surveying the asteroid for a spell, the spacecraft will try to enter&#xa0;the 1,614-foot-wide hunk of rock's weak orbit.</p><p>At about the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2016/09/watch-nasa-launch-asteroid-sampling-spacecraft/">size of the Empire State Building</a>, Bennu will be the smallest object NASA has ever attempted to orbit. And it won't be easy because, well, gravity (smaller objects mean less gravity, which makes orbiting the objects pretty tricky).</p><p>During its mile-long orbit around Bennu, OSIRIS-Rex will snap pictures every two hours, which will be transmitted back to Earth to help NASA keep the spacecraft on course.</p><p>The spacecraft, equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, will also take measurements of the asteroid to map its surface in 3D and get information about its geology.</p><p>It will also scope out&#xa0;the best spot for the mission's primary goal: Gathering a scoop of spacedirt that scientists back on Earth will use to tell the story of the birth of our solar system.</p><p>After a year, the spacecraft will cozy up to the asteroid (it will be too dangerous to maneuver a landing) and slowly stretch out its 10-foot-long arm toward Bennu's dusty surface where it will capture a few breaths of the asteroid's dirt and store it away in a capsule.</p><p>Then OSIRIS-Rex will begin its journey back to Earth and in September 2023, it will parachute down in the Utah desert, carrying some of the most important samples ever gathered from space.</p><p>If OSIRIS-Rex succeeds, it will not only bring home the largest asteroid sample ever. It will bring home the largest sample collected since the Apollo missions to the moon. And just a couple ounces of this dirt and gravel could help us finally explain the origin of life on our planet.</p><p>The spacecraft is scheduled to launch out of Cape Canaveral between 7:05 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. ET. NASA's live coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET. You can <a href="https://www.ustream.tv/channel/6540154">check it out here</a> or below:</p><p><div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/osiris-rex-nasas-1-billion-mission-2016-9">NASA's next mission is collecting 'scientific treasure' that could answer one of life's greatest mysteries</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="p0YWdxNTE6TIm8aDSJ0WplDSlYxWrSjP" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Tonight, NASA is launching a mission that could solve the mystery of life with just a few scoops of dirt

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/osiris-rex-approaches-bennu">NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of OSIRIS-REx in orbit around asteroid Bennu.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>An asteroid-sampling NASA spacecraft with a dinosaur-like name is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasas-osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-return-mission-launching-tonight-2016-9">scheduled to launch at 7:05 p.m. EDT</a> on Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.</p><p>If all goes according to plan, the 1.7-ton <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/about">OSIRIS-REx probe</a> - short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification-Regolith Explorer - will reach a dirty asteroid called Bennu in 2018, scoop up at least 2.1 ounces of grit, then bring the largest-ever deliberately collected sample of an asteroid back to Earth in 2023.</p><p>The cost of the feat? Roughly <a href="https://uanews.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/download-media/OSIRIS-REx%20FAQ.pdf">$800 million for the mission</a> (including the spacecraft), plus <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/august/nasa-selects-launch-services-contract-for-osiris-rex-mission/#.V9FrZRArJTY">$183.5 million for the Atlas V rocket launch</a> on Sept. 8, 2016 - a total of nearly $1 billion.</p><p>NASA and scientists all over the world believe it's well worth the cost and the wait, since <strong>the tiny sample could reveal how our solar system formed and help explain how life began on Earth</strong>.</p><h2>A dirty yet pristine asteroid</h2><p>Asteroids are like floating time capsules, since they're made of the same stuff present during the birth of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. The space rocks spawned out of a super-heated cloud of hydrogen, helium, and dust, forming before the first planets.</p><p>Aside from a handful that occasionally burn up in a planet's atmosphere or strike its surface, they've floated around ever since, lonely and cold in the void of space.</p><p>Some asteroids are also rich in water and carbon-based materials, and many astronomers think that when Jupiter formed, its massive gravity flung countless ones like this toward the sun.</p><p>They rained down on the inner planets and may have carried the ingredients of life to early Earth.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey">NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">Artist's impression of early Earth being bombarded with asteroids.</p></div><p></p></div></div>If scientists can capture a <a href="https://uanews.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/download-media/OSIRIS-REx%20FAQ.pdf">pristine piece</a> of a dirty asteroid in space - one that's untarnished by a blazing-hot reentry to Earth in a thud in our dirt - they'd get a chance to analyze it and see how strong this hypothesis is.</p><p>According to NASA, Bennu (the asteroid formerly known as "1999 RQ36") is one such dirty asteroid in near-Earth orbit, or <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey">within about 121 million miles</a> of our planet. While this is closer than most asteroids, but the spacecraft likely won't reach Bennu until 2018.</p><p>Once it arrives, OSIRIS-REx will first <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/otes-will-map-mineral-and-chemical-abundances">map the asteroid</a> in 3-D to locate the best sampling sites:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"></div></div></p><p>Next it will scoot up close to the asteroid, extend <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/tagsam-sample-return-arm">a long robotic arm</a> until it touches the surface, and then shoot out a blast of sterile nitrogen gas.</p><p>In the chaos of flying grit, <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/osiris-rex-mission-operations">NASA says</a> hopes to collect at least one 60-gram (2.1-ounce) sample of carbon-laced asteroid rock - about a small bag of chips' worth of weight - in a cup-like sample container. However, the spacecraft is designed to gobble up to 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) of dust and grit over three different attempts.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/osiris-rex-grabs-a-sample">NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist's concept of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft while sampling asteroid Bennu.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>After it bags some crucial samples, the probe will begin a long journey back to Earth starting in 2021 and land sometime in 2023.</p><p>Scientists will then spend at least 2 years subjecting the samples to variety of tests in hopes of learning what, exactly, the early solar system "tastes" like.</p><h2>A risky business</h2><p>This is assuming all goes according to plan, though.</p><p>As the world was recently reminded with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-nasa-reactions-rocket-explosion-2016-9">SpaceX's launchpad explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket</a>, putting expensive payloads atop stacks of fuel and oxidizer is a risky business.</p><p>Sample-return missions like OSIRIS-REx are also notoriously complex, given the many instruments and stages required to collect something in space and bring it back safely.</p><p>In fact, NASA has a limited recent track record of sample-return missions: <a href="http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html">Stardust</a> and <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/missions/genesis/">Genesis</a>.</p><p>Stardust's comet-sampling mission mostly went off without a hitch. However, when the solar wind-sampling Genesis probe's payload returned to Earth in 2004, the landing did not go well - the <a href="https://twitter.com/coreyspowell/status/773797444798865409">sample capsule crashed into a Utah desert</a> because its parachutes didn't deploy.</p><p>However risky the mission may be, the time has come for OSIRIS-REx to launch.</p><p>Here's what the finished spacecraft looks like:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed/data/space/photo/pressrelease/2015/OSIRIS%20HGA%20SolarArray%2010-12-15_005.jpg">Lockheed Martin</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And here's what it now looks like now, cradled in the cone-shaped top of its 191-foot-tall Atlas V rocket ride:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Joel KowskyNASA</span></p><p class="caption">An Atlas V rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla., which is capped by NASA's asteroid Bennu-bound OSIRIS-REx probe.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This mission will also act as a stepping stone toward NASA's asteroid redirect mission, where the agency plans to rope an asteroid, tow it near Earth, and send astronauts to explore it.</p><p><em>Kelly Dickerson contributed to a previous version of this post.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ways-earth-could-die-asteroid-armageddon-2016-6">4 horrifying ways the Earth could die</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Zqd2E1NDE6nARld5iMkE-5fvBRxTj6lB" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Here's why NASA is risking nearly $1 billion to suck up 2.1 ounces of dirty asteroid

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-says-space-probe-landed-on-asteroid-to-get-soil-sample-2019-7">Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2</a> has landed on the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/here-are-the-first-pictures-from-the-rovers-japan-just-landed-on-an-asteroid-280-million-km-away-2018-9">surface</a> of an asteroid called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/category/ryugu">Ryugu</a> that's over 5.5 million miles from Earth.</li><li>Ryugu is a carbon-rich rock that could hold clues to the history of our solar system. The rock might contain amino acids, the essential building blocks of life.</li><li>Hayabusa-2 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japans-hayabusa2-spacecraft-drops-bomb-on-ryugu-asteroid-2019-4">blasted a hole</a> in the asteroid in April in order to collect samples from subsurface rock that's been sheltered from the wear and tear of space.</li><li>NASA is also conducting a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/osiris-rex-asteroid-bennu-approach-nasa-tv-youtube-2018-12">mission</a> to visit an asteroid and collect samples, but without the explosives.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>The life of an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-hubble-telescope-gault-asteroid-spinning-apart-images-2019-3">asteroid</a> is lonely. The rocks spend eons drifting through the cold vacuum of space.</p><p>But on Wednesday, the asteroid Ryugu welcomed a special visitor: Japan's Hayabusa-2 probe successfully <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-says-space-probe-landed-on-asteroid-to-get-soil-sample-2019-7">landed</a> on the asteroid's surface&#xa0;at <a href="http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/topics/20190711e_PPTD_ImageBulletin/">9:06 p.m. ET</a>.</p><p>The <a href="https://global.jaxa.jp/">Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)</a>&#xa0;launched <a href="http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/">Hayabusa-2</a> into space in December 2014. Its mission: explore and collect samples from Ryugu, a primitive asteroid half-a-mile in diameter that orbits the sun at a distance up to 131 million miles (211 million kilometers).</p><p>The probe <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-japan-probe-arrives-at-asteroid-after-nearly-four-year-space-odyssey-2018-6">reached</a> its destination in June 2018, then got to work making observations, measuring the asteroid's gravity, and rehearsing to touch down. It blasted the asteroid with a copper plate and a box of explosives in April in order to loosen rocks and expose material under the surface, then successfully landed on Ryugu last night to gather up the rock and soil debris.</p><p>The spacecraft captured the images below as it left the asteroid's surface.&#xa0;</p><p>"First photo was taken at 10:06:32 JST (on-board time) and you can see the gravel flying upwards. Second shot was at 10:08:53 where the darker region near the centre is due to touchdown," JAXA <a href="https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1149223290684108801">tweeted</a>.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>Ancient rock samples</h2><p>Asteroids are made of rock and metal, and they take all kinds of quirky shapes, ranging in size from pebbles to 600-mile megaliths. Most of them hang out in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, though Ryugu's orbit sometimes takes it between Mars and Earth.</p><p>Some asteroids date back to the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, when materials leftover from the formation of planets coalesced into these chunks of rock. In that sense, asteroids can serve as time capsules: What scientists find in those primitive rocks could tell us a lot about the solar system's history.</p><p>Ryugu is a C-type asteroid, which means it's rich with organic carbon molecules, water, and possibly amino acids. Amino acids form the building blocks for protein and were essential to the evolution of life on Earth. Some theories posit that an asteroid first brought amino acids here, gifting our planet with the seeds of life, though that's still debated.&#xa0;</p><p>About three-quarters of our solar system's asteroids are C-type. Hayabusa-2 aims to be the first mission to bring samples from such an asteroid back to Earth.&#xa0;</p><p>The probe initially <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-spacecraft-touches-down-on-asteroid-to-get-samples-2019-2">landed</a> on Ryugu in February and collected shallow samples from just below the surface, but mission managers decided to gather some deeper rock samples as well, since that material hasn't been exposed to harsh weathering from space. To accomplish that, the probe had to<span> lift back off the asteroid, then blast a <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/what-to-expect-hayabusa2-sci.html">10-meter crater</a> into the surface in order to</span> access to the rock beneath.</p><p>So in April, Hayabusa-2 released and detonated a box of explosives in space that shot a copper plate into the asteroid.</p><p>Wednesday's landing then made a splash in all that freed-up material.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>"These images were taken before and after touchdown by the small monitor camera (CAM-H). The first is 4 seconds before touchdown, the second is at touchdown itself and the third is 4 seconds after touchdown. In the third image, you can see the amount of rocks that rise," JAXA <a href="https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1149223290684108801">tweeted</a>.</p><p>After it touched down, Hayabusa-2 then collected a new set of samples and left Ryugu's surface. At the end of this year, it will begin the 5.5 million-mile (9 million-kilometer) journey home. So far, everything is <a href="http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/news/schedule/">on schedule</a>.&#xa0;</p><p>&#xa0;</p><h2>NASA is on a similar mission</h2><p>NASA is also studying a far-off asteroid.</p><p>The agency's <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex">OSIRIS-REx</a> mission <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/nasa-s-osiris-rex-spacecraft-arrives-at-asteroid-bennu-1027777174">reached</a> a much smaller C-type asteroid, Bennu, in August 2018. But the probe didn't land on Bennu's surface; instead, it's been orbiting at a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/osiris-rex-breaks-another-orbit-record">record-breakingly close</a> distance.</p><p>The plan is for OSIRIS-REx to approach Bennu's surface in July 2020, but the spacecraft will only make contact for about five seconds. During that quick instant, it will blow nitrogen gas to stir up dust and pebbles and collect the samples. If all goes according to plan, it will return that material to Earth in 2023.&#xa0;</p><p>The asteroid's surface has turned out to be rougher than expected, however, and debris flying off the space rock can pose a threat to the orbiting spacecraft. So NASA is still <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-invites-public-to-help-asteroid-mission-choose-sample-site">choosing</a> its sampling site.</p><p>But Bennu has already made a significant finding: In December, before it entered orbit around Bennu, the probe <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-nasa-probe-finds-signs-of-water-on-nearby-asteroid-bennu-2018-12">discovered</a> that the asteroid harbored ingredients for water (oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together). Though Bennu is too small to host liquid water, it's <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-newly-arrived-osiris-rex-spacecraft-already-discovers-water-on-asteroid">possible</a> that water could have once existed on its parent asteroid, which Bennu broke away from between 700 million and 2 billion years ago.</p><p>Though NASA's asteroid-exploration mission will collect a larger quantity of sample material than Japan's, the JAXA team <a href="http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/enjoy/material/press/Hayabusa2_Press20190625_ver5_en2.pdf">hopes</a> that comparing the samples from two different sites on the same asteroid will yield novel information about how long-term space exposure changes asteroids over time.</p><p>Both Bennu and Ryugu could also teach scientists a lot about the history of the solar system and potentially - if they contain organic materials - about the origins of life on Earth.</p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-japan-land-hopping-robots-on-asteroid-ryugu-2018-9">Why Japan is landing hopping robots on an asteroid</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A Japanese spacecraft has landed on an asteroid after blasting it with a bullet. The mission will bring back rock samples to Earth.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Lockheed Martin</span></p><p class="caption">Artist's illustration of NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe sampling an asteroid.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Lockheed Martin just finished building the <a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/osirisrex" target="_blank">OSIRIS-REx spacecraft</a> for NASA.</p><p>If all goes according to plan, the 1.7-ton probe will launch next year toward an asteroid called Bennu, then bring the first-ever samples of an asteroid back to Earth.</p><p><strong>Astronomers think the asteroid samples could reveal how our solar system formed and help explain how life began on Earth.</strong></p><p>Asteroids are like floating time capsules - preserved chunks of the same stuff that was present during the birth of the solar system. The space rocks likely spawned out of a super-heated cloud of hydrogen, helium, and dust, forming before the first planets.</p><p>Asteroids are rich in water and carbon-based materials, and many astronomers think that when Jupiter formed, its massive gravity flung countless asteroids toward the sun.</p><p>They rained down on the inner planets and may have carried the ingredients of life to early Earth:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey">NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">Artist's impression of early Earth being bombarded with asteroids.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>If scientists can capture a pristine piece of a dirty asteroid in space, they'd get a chance to analyze it and see how strong this hypothesis is.</p><p>Although the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is built, it still has to pass five months' worth of tests before it can fly to Bennu. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey">According to NASA</a>, the asteroid is in near-Earth orbit, or within about 121 million miles of us.</p><p>This is closer than most asteroids, but the spacecraft likely won't reach Bennu until 2019. After it arrives, OSIRIS-REx will collect at least a 60-gram sample of carbon-laced asteroid rock - about a small bag of chips' worth of weight - and return it to Earth in 2023, according to the <a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/osirisrex">mission description</a> from Lockheed Martin.</p><p>Here's what the finished spacecraft looks like:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed/data/space/photo/pressrelease/2015/OSIRIS%20HGA%20SolarArray%2010-12-15_005.jpg">Lockheed Martin</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This mission will act as a stepping stone toward NASA's asteroid redirect mission, where the agency plans to rope an asteroid, tow it near Earth, and send astronauts to explore it.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-stopped-rotating-spinning-consequences-2015-10">Here's what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Qwa29wdzp8w2fmIlCwPX3P-DFK_CPXDV" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

This space probe is almost ready to sample an asteroid - and resolve a mystery of life's origins

<div id="ooyalaplayer" style="width: 800px; height: 450px;"></div><div style="display:none;" id="kalturavideoplaceholder">kalturavideoplaceholder</div><div><div><div class="g-ytsubscribe" data-channelid="UCVLZmDKeT-mV4H3ToYXIFYg" data-layout="full" data-count="hidden"></div></div></div><p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa" target="_blank">NASA </a>is about to embark on an epic journey to an asteroid called "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-spacecraft-built-2015-10" target="_blank">Bennu</a>," searching for answers to the formation of life on Earth. On Sep. 8, NASA will launch its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft into space. The spacecraft will spend the next two years catching up with asteroid Bennu.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The asteroid, little altered over time, is likely to represent a snapshot of our solar system's infancy," <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/missions/osiris-rex/" target="_blank">NASA</a>.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><em><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Produced by Corey Protin. Original reporting by Jessica Orwig.</span></em></p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Follow TI:&#xa0;</strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/techinsider">On Facebook</a></p>

NASA's next big $1 billion mission has a special delivery for Earth

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/solar-system-space-objects-elements-this-346334663">Shutterstock</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist's depiction of the solar system.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>NASA's New Frontiers program is a competition for scientists to get their space mission funded.</strong></li><li><strong>The winner, to be selected in 2019, will get funding and a rocket launch that are valued at a combined $1 billion.</strong></li><li><strong>On Wednesday, the space agency is revealing its top finalists.</strong></li><li><strong>The teams competing for the mission could look for signs of alien life at Enceladus, probe Venus, or chase asteroids.</strong></li></ul><p> </p><p>On Wednesday, NASA will unveil a handful of finalists competing for a billion-dollar space mission to explore the solar system.</p><p>Twelve teams of scientists submitted proposals to the contest, which is called New Frontiers-4 (since it's the fourth such competition held by NASA). A few of those 12 teams - perhaps just one, two, or three - will each receive $4 million next year to further develop and engineer their spacecraft concept.</p><p>The hope: Convince NASA by December 2018 that they're worth $850 million and a free rocket ride into the solar system, at a combined value of about $1 billion.</p><p>Previous missions selected by New Frontiers <a href="https://planetarymissions.nasa.gov/missions/new%20frontiers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">include</a> New Horizons, a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">nuclear-powered</a> probe that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pluto-subsurface-ocean-2016-12">flew by Pluto</a> in 2015 and is now going deeper into the Kuiper Belt; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-sampling-mission-2016-9">OSIRIS-REx</a>, a robot that's flying out to meet asteroid Bennu and bring a sample of it back to Earth; and the Juno mission, which is looping around Jupiter, recording unprecedented data and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-jupiter-images-nasa-juno-perijove-9-2017-11">breathtaking images of the planet</a>.</p><p>The current list of 12 teams hasn't been publicized by NASA, but the groups are allowed to speak up on their own. The missions that are publicly known span a few categories for which the space agency requested missions. They include:</p><p><strong>Lunar missions</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2017/pdf/1326.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MoonRise</a></li></ul><p><strong>Venus missions</strong></p><ul><li>Venus In Situ Atmospheric and Geochemical Explorer (<a href="http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2017/EPSC2017-275-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visage</a>)</li><li>Venus In Situ Composition Investigations (<a href="http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2017/EPSC2017-346.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vici</a>)</li><li>Venus Origins Explorer (<a href="https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/vexag2017/pdf/8031.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vox</a>)</li></ul><p><strong>Saturn missions</strong></p><ul><li>Enceladus Life Finder (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-mom-linda-spilker-why-nasa-should-go-back-saturn-2017-9/#the-enceladus-life-finder-5">Elf</a>)</li><li>Saturn Probe Interior and Atmosphere Explorer (<a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/docs/IPPW-13_02_PR_12_SPRITE_Saturn_PRobe_Interior_and_aTmopshere_Explorer_A_Simon.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sprite</a>)</li><li>Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability (Elsah)</li><li><a href="https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2017/pdf/2306.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oceanus</a></li><li><a href="http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2017/170823.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dragonfly</a></li></ul><p><strong>Comet missions</strong></p><ul><li>Comet Rendezvous, Sample Acquisition, Investigation, and Return (Corsair)</li><li>Comet Nucleus Dust and Organics Return (Condor)</li><li>An unnamed comet sample-return mission</li></ul><p>NASA's <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-name-finalists-for-future-solar-system-mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Frontiers announcement</a> at 2 p.m. ET, and we're dialing in to ask questions about the finalists. Check back for an update shortly after that.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacecraft-cemetery-pacific-ocean-dead-satellites-2017-10">There's a place at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean where hundreds of giant spacecraft go to die</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

NASA is about to announce the finalists of its next $1 billion space mission

Space 2021: All the Mars landings, eclipses, astronaut flights, rocket launches, and other big missions to look for this year

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Stringer</span></p><p class="caption">University students participate a competition of folding quilts during a military training at the start of a new semester in Hengyang, Hunan Province, China, September 8, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Hello! Here's what you need to know on Friday.</p><p><strong>1. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-n-korea-hails-successful-nuclear-test-state-tv-2016-9">North Korea has conducted a "successful" fifth nuclear test, </a><span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-n-korea-hails-successful-nuclear-test-state-tv-2016-9">in an explosion described as Pyongyang's largest-ever such blast</a>.</span> </strong>It comes just days after the rogue regime fired ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.</p><p><strong>2. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-suspect-in-paris-gas-cannister-car-find-shot-during-arrest-inquiry-source-2016-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">French police shot and arrested a woman suspected of leaving a car containing six gas canisters outside Notre Dame</a>. </strong>A police officer suffered a knife wound during the arrest.</p><p><strong>3. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/amancio-ortega-richest-man-in-the-world">Zara founder Amancio Ortega just became the richest man in the world</a>. </strong><span>Shares of the Spanish retailer's parent company, Inditex, rose 2.5%. That boosted Ortega's fortune to $79.5 billion.</span></p><p><strong>4. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-protest-recall-president-nicolas-maduro-2016-9">Venezuelan's across the country took to the streets to protest the p</a><span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-protest-recall-president-nicolas-maduro-2016-9">residency of Nicolás Maduro</a>. </span></strong>Protesters are increasing pressure on authorities to call a referendum on his future in office. </p><p><strong>5. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/gary-johnson-syria-aleppo-what-is-2016-9">Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party's nominee for president of the US, stunned television hosts after asking what Aleppo is</a>. </strong>The city is the site of some of the fiercest fighting in Syria's civil war.</p><p><strong>6. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/nasa-osirisrex-bennu-launch-atlas-v-rocket-2016-9">NASA has successfully launched a $1 billion space probe bound for the asteroid Bennu</a><span>. </span></strong>OSIRIS-REx will help scientists learn how the solar system formed, and how to protect our planet from stray asteroids</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-haiti-to-fund-55-million-new-try-at-elections-after-results-scrapped-2016-8"></a><strong>7. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/yougov-poll-theresa-may-jeremy-corbyn-labour-conservatives-2016-9">British Prime Minister Theresa May is 71 points ahead of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the latest poll</a>. </strong>The latest results show how astonishingly unpopular Corbyn is with the general public.</p><p><strong>8. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-us-warns-against-using-samsung-galaxy-note-7-on-planes-2016-9?IR=T">The US has warned against using Samsung Galaxy Note 7's on planes after reports of exploding batteries</a>. </strong>The company last week suspended sales of the "phablet" and recalled 2.5 million units.</p><p><strong>9. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-duterte-obama-shake-hands-and-chat-after-rift-over-insult-2016-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">Barack Obama has met with Philippine President Duterte for the first time since being called a "son of a bitch."</a></strong> The two leaders shook hands a day after they were supposed to meet. </p><p><strong>10. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/serena-williams-loses-world-top-ranking-at-us-open-2016-9">Serena Williams has lost the world No.1 ranking on a double fault</a>. </strong>Williams fell in straight sets to 24-year-old Karolina Pliskova in the U.S. Open semifinal on Thursday night, 6-2, 7-6.</p><p><strong>And finally ...</strong></p><p><strong><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/neil-armstrong-misquoted-one-small-step-for-man-2016-9">A new study suggests Neil Armstrong was misquoted in his most famous remark: "that's one small step for man."</a></strong></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-financial-markets-arent-taking-trump-seriously-2016-8">KRUGMAN: Financial markets aren't taking a Trump victory very seriously</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RrNXdtNTE6A2yVb-FAhQwFsUcSxyV1lf" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The 10 most important things in the world right now

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Getty Images/Shutterstock/NASA; illustration by Dave Mosher/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">President-elect has said a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s would be "wonderful."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>When Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20, there's a good chance he could scrap one of President Obama's boldest visions for NASA: the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/what-is-nasa-s-asteroid-redirect-mission">asteroid redirect mission</a>, or ARM.</p><p>ARM would ostensibly launch a robotic probe to an asteroid in 2023, capture the space rock, and tow it near the moon. Next, astronauts would ride NASA's shiny new <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-about-nasas-space-launch-system-2016-1">Space Launch System</a> and Orion space capsule (which aren't finished yet) to visit and dig into the asteroid sometime in 2025.</p><p>But ARM's slipping deadlines, ballooning costs, redundancy with the recently launched <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-sampling-mission-2016-9">asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-REx probe</a>, and seeming incongruence with the space agency's larger ambitions to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-mission-with-humans-plan-2016-4">send people to Mars</a> will almost certainly doom the mission, Eric Berger reported <a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/nasas-asteroid-mission-isnt-deadyet/">for Ars Technica in February</a>. (The Trump-friendly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/house-science-committee-climate-change-breitbard-2016-12">House Committee on Science, Space and Technology</a> also recently sent an <a href="https://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/2016%2011%2029%20ARM%20letter%20to%20NASA%20from%20CLS%20CBB.pdf">unfriendly letter about ARM</a> to NASA, and it appears to be yet another presumed nail in ARM's coffin.)</p><p>So what could astronauts do instead under a Trump-controlled NASA?</p><p>Physicist and former astronaut John Grunsfeld, who recently retired as the leader of NASA's <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> mission directorate, is pitching a popular idea involving a retrieving a sample of Martian soil, <a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/12/instead-of-retrieving-an-asteroid-boulder-nasa-could-go-after-rocks-on-mars/">as Berger reported on Monday</a>.</p><p>Grunsfeld's Mars mission would send a satellite into Martian orbit and an uncrewed space capsule to the surface. Though it stops short of involving astronauts, it could check all sorts of necessary boxes to send people onto the red planet in the future, including:</p><ul><li>mapping all of Mars' water reservoirs for future crewed missions</li><li>further test <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/sep/index.html">solar electric propulsion</a> (SEP), a highly efficient technology that can vastly reduce the launch weight of a spacecraft</li><li>establish high-speed data connectivity around Mars with a new satellite</li><li>pick up soil samples collected by NASA's upcoming nuclear-powered Mars 2020 rover</li><li>prove a round-trip to the red planet is possible and survivable</li></ul><p>...and, importantly and ultimately:</p><ul><li>open a destination for astronauts that's actually a priority for NASA at large (<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2016/11/14/trump-space-policy-to-aim-for-mars-and-beyond/">and Trump</a>)</li></ul><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacexphotos/">SpaceX Photo on Flickr</a></span></p><p class="caption">A computer rendering of SpaceX's Red Dragon capsule landing on Mars.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>What's more, Grunsfeld's presumed mission would line up with the plans of SpaceX and its founder, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-mars-speech-transcript-2016-9">hellbent on colonizing Mars</a> - and sooner rather than later.</p><p>Musk has said he'll initially <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mars-expatriation-spacex-2016-11">land Red Dragon space capsules</a> on the surface. Although those spacecraft are being designed for people, Musk noted there's plenty of room for a rover and other science experiments.</p><p>That's probably why Grunsfeld envisions contracting the company to send a small rover and sample-returning rocket. His rover would grab <a href="http://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/">Mars 2020's samples</a>, lug them up to his satellite's SEP-powered module in Martian orbit, and bring the rocks and dirt home for analysis by 2025.</p><p>Will Trump go for it? Business Insider contacted a representative of Trump's transition team to ask as much, but we did not immediately receive a response.</p><p>However, Trump said during the election that a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s would be "<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2015/08/15/trump-wonderful-manned-mars-mission-comes-after-infrastructure/">wonderful</a>" and, per <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2016/11/14/trump-space-policy-to-aim-for-mars-and-beyond/">a Nov. 14 Forbes article</a> by Bruce Dorminey, his transition team is currently looking at (and past) the planet:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"'The specifics of missions will be determined within the overall goal of human exploration of the solar system, but clearly, the long-term, overall goal of Trump space policy anticipates human exploration far beyond low-Earth orbit and even beyond Mars,' former Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Robert Walker and a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, told [Dorminey]."</p><p>Gunsfeld's roadmap could be just the kind of no-nonsense plan Trump's NASA is looking for.</p><h3>Read the full story about Grunsfeld's Mars mission idea <a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/12/instead-of-retrieving-an-asteroid-boulder-nasa-could-go-after-rocks-on-mars/">at Ars Technica</a>.</h3>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-nasa-find-giant-underground-ice-reserve-mars-2016-11">Scientists just discovered a massive reserve of frozen water that could help astronauts survive on Mars</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="poOHd3NzE6DHvdCYCM8LaM1JIIQK2hyB" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Here's how Trump could replace Obama's asteroid catcher with a SpaceX-backed mission to Mars

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>The Cassini spacecraft was destroyed at Saturn on Friday around 6:32 a.m. EDT.</strong></li><li><strong>It took more than an hour for the probe's last signal to reach antennas on Earth.</strong></li><li><strong>NASA's $3.26-billion mission was ended to prevent contaminating salty oceans of Saturn's moons - water that may harbor alien life.</strong></li><li><strong>The space agency is now reviewing a handful of proposals to return to Saturn and its moons.</strong></li></ul><p>With the crackle and fade of a signal beamed from 932 million miles away, NASA's 20-year Cassini mission at Saturn came to an end on Friday morning.</p><p>The bus-size Cassini probe began its descent into Saturn around 6:31 a.m. EDT, local time, while streaming unprecedented real-time measurements of the planet's atmosphere. The probe ramped up its thrusters to keep its antenna dish pointed toward Earth to send the data.</p><p>However, its connection with Earth didn't last much longer: The thrusters weren't designed to keep a spacecraft righted while plunging into Saturn at 78,000 mph.</p><p>Cassini began to tumble, breaking its last bond with Earth around 7:55 a.m. The signal was lost. And then the probe died.</p><p>It's unlikely that anyone saw it happen - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-death-will-it-be-visible-nasa-hubble-telescopes-2017-9">not even powerful telescopes</a> - but NASA surmises that its "faithful traveler from Earth" heated up to hundreds and then thousands of degrees, broke apart, disintegrated, and vaporized into a small, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-saturn-mission-death-plutonium-238-burn-up-2017-8">plutonium-laced meteor</a> that streaked above Saturn's clouds.</p><p><br>Before dying, Cassini's final communication traveled at light-speed from Saturn, taking just <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/time-cassini-will-be-destroyed-timeline-2017-9">over 1 hour 23 minutes</a> to pass through the void of space and reach Earth. Giant radio dishes in Australia picked up the signal&#xa0;and forwarded the data to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (the heart of the Cassini mission).</br></p><p>Silence fell over the control<span>&#xa0;room, which was full of Cassini's scientific stewards and their family members. Everyone stared at their screens.&#xa0;</span>When the feed of data stopped,&#xa0;people&#xa0;clapped, then hugged, and many could be heard crying.</p><p>"The signal from the spacecraft is gone, and so will be the spacecraft in the next 45 seconds," said Earl Maize, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who manages the Cassini mission, during a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-grand-finale-video-nasa-youtube-ustream-2017-9">live broadcast by NASA TV</a>. "This has been an incredible spacecraft, an incredible mission, and you're all an incredible team."</p><p>NASA could not&#xa0;confirm exactly what time Cassini met its doom, though the agency estimated it happened seconds to minutes after they lost touch with the probe.</p><p>One thing is clear, though: The space agency's $3.26-billion mission to explore Saturn is over.</p><p>"Thank you, Cassini, and farewell," Maize said during a press conference on Wednesday.</p><h2>Why NASA killed the Cassini probe</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Cassini left Earth with 6,900 lbs of propellant in its tanks. This allowed it to adjust its orbit around Saturn and visit one moon after the next, leading to astonishing discoveries.<p>The probe discovered six new moons, mysterious "propeller objects" in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-saturn-rings-image-cassini-2017-4">Saturn's rings</a>, documented a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturn-hexagon-storm-images-2017-5">giant hexagon</a> swirling atop the planet's north pole, photographed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/incredible-pictures-of-lakes-on-saturns-moon-titan-2013-12">hydrocarbon lakes</a> on Titan (Saturn's largest moon), and found a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">vast ocean</a> of salty water - which may harbor alien life - below the icy crust of the moon <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-enceladus-cassini-ocean-life-global-salty-nasa-2015-9">Enceladus</a>.</p><p>In 2010, Cassini had enough propellant left to either fly by Uranus or Neptune, or continue to explore Saturn and its moons.</p><p>If it had flown past one of those planets and shot out into space, Cassini would have had enough <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">plutonium-238 fuel</a> to keep its electricity running for decades - just like the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-probes-mission-history-farthest-movie-2018-08">Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes</a>, which launched 40 years ago and have left the solar system.</p><p>But with so many questions about Saturn still unanswered, NASA decided to keep Cassini in orbit there - and doom it to its fiery "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/cassini-grand-finale">Grand Finale</a>" death in September 2017. With less than 90 lbs of propellant left on Friday, the spacecraft plunged &#xa0;to its demise. The scientists chose to kill the probe this way to avoid the&#xa0;risk that it could run out of fuel and crash into one of Saturn's&#xa0;potentially life-fostering moons.&#xa0;</p><p>"Because of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-planetary-protection-officer-job-opening-2017-7">planetary protection</a>, and our desire to go back to Enceladus, and go back to Titan," Jim Green, the leader of NASA's planetary <keyword id="41551" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> program, said during a Wednesday press briefing, "we must protect those bodies for future exploration."</p><p><br>Extending the mission at Saturn helped Cassini's controllers to pile on discovery after discovery.</br></p><p>The probe had discovered jets of water shooting out of Enceladus in 2005. This was astonishing enough, but the extension allowed Cassini to "taste" the spray, confirming the moon hides a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-enceladus-cassini-ocean-life-global-salty-nasa-2015-9">salty ocean</a> below its ice-encrusted surface. Cassini also learned that Titan, too, may harbor its own <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/water-space-volume-planets-moons-2016-10">habitable, subsurface seas</a>.</p><p>"To find that there's an ocean world so tiny with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturn-encealdus-hydrothermal-vent-aliens-2017-4">a possibility of life</a>, so far from the sun - 10 times farther from the sun than the Earth - has opened up our paradigm of where you might look for life," <a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Spilker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Linda Spilker</a>, a Cassini project scientist and planetary scientist at NASA's JPL, said of Enceladus on Wednesday, "both within our own solar system and in the exoplanet systems beyond."</p><h2>Will there be a Cassini 2.0?</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Cassini is now dust falling through Saturn's clouds, and NASA has no other spacecraft there to study the planet, its rings, and fleet of moons.</p><p>But NASA is itching to fuel up more nuclear batteries, build a new spacecraft, and return to the planetary system.</p><p>"The observations by Cassini have been so remarkable for Enceladus and Titan, that ... we announced the inclusion of those two objects in our focused science program called <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/05/05/nasa-receives-proposals-for-future-solar-system-mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New Frontiers</a>," Green said on Wednesday. "Those proposals are in and currently under evaluation, and they do indeed include proposals to go back to Titan and Enceladus. We'll look through this competition and see what happens."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>New Frontiers has produced missions like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pluto-tail-new-horizons-comet-planet-hybrid-2016-5">New Horizons</a>, which flew by Pluto (and is on its way into the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/number-dwarf-planets-solar-system-2017-3">Kuiper Belt</a>); <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/latest-jupiter-pictures-nasa-juno-2017-7">Juno</a>, which is currently orbiting Jupiter; and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-sampling-mission-2016-9">OSIRIS-REx</a>, a probe designed to suck up bits of Asteroid Bennu in 2018 and return that sample to Earth in 2023.<p>Spilker wrote and submitted one of the latest New Frontiers proposals with <a href="https://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/people/m_cable" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Morgan Cable</a>, a fellow Cassini scientist. If approved, they'll get about $800 million, nuclear power supplies, and a rocket to make their mission happen.</p><p>"We've put together a proposal ... to go back to Enceladus with the kinds of instruments that you would need to address the questions about the habitability and 'is there life in the ocean of Enceladus?' The mission's called Enceladus Life Finder," Spilker told Business Insider.</p><p>She'll find out in December whether or not the proposal made the first cut, and gets a year to more deeply study and flesh out a mission plan. There are 11 competing proposals, about half of which also propose a return to Saturn.</p><p>"Certainly if my mission doesn't get selected, then I will be rooting for a mission to go back to the Saturn system," Spilker said. "Because as Cassini ends, part of me is saying 'I need to go back.'"</p><div><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:43%"></div></div><div><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:57%"></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/5-biggest-discoveries-nasa-saturn-cassini-huygens-2017-5">The 5 biggest discoveries from NASA's Cassini spacecraft that changed our view of space</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

NASA's groundbreaking Cassini probe is dead after 20 years of exploring Saturn

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_261.html">NASA</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>WASHINGTON, D.C. - In sharp contrast to the cynical outlook that politicians, lobbyists, and reporters generally have about space travel in this city, the tone inside the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/future-is-here/?no-ist">Smithsonian's Future Is Here Festival</a> on April 24 was unabashedly optimistic.</p><p>There, NASA officials shared their detailed plans to land humans on Mars as soon as 15 years from now.</p><p>The space agency has mulled launching a crewed Mars mission for decades. In fact, President <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/john-f-kennedy-wanted-mars-instead-moon-2016-3">Kennedy originally wanted astronauts to visit the Red Planet</a> instead of the moon. So today it feels like we may never reach Mars, as many science fiction stories have teased and NASA has failed to deliver.</p><p>But the space agency seems serious this time. President <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/trans/obama_ksc_trans.html">Obama challenged NASA</a> to get astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. And while other presidents have done the same since the Apollo missions returned from the moon, NASA says that it's finally ready for its Mars shot.</p><p>"We're closer than we've ever been to humans stepping on Mars," NASA's deputy administrator, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/newman_bio.html">Dava Newman</a>, said at the conference.</p><p>NASA released its 36-page "<a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-journey-to-mars-plan-2015-10">Journey to Mars</a>" report in <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/latest-nasa-report-on-journey-to-mars-2015-10">October 2015</a> to outline broad goals, but its <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-journey-to-mars-plan-2015-10">lack of clear deadlines</a> generated fierce opposition.</p><p>"This sounds good, but it is actually a journey to nowhere until we have that budget and we have the schedule and we have the deadlines," Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) said during a congressional <a href="https://science.house.gov/news/press-releases/hearing-examines-impact-president-s-budget-deep-space-exploration">hearing</a> after the report was released.</p><p>Newman and other NASA administrators shared new details at the Smithsonian conference, though, filling in some of the blanks to respond to Smith's and others' criticisms.</p><p>Here's how the agency plans to get humans on Mars within our lifetimes.</p><h2>The plan</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-orion-flight-test-and-the-journey-to-mars">NASA</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>NASA and <a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/ssc/orion-eft1.html">Lockheed Martin</a> have already built the spacecraft that will take humans to Mars, called <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html">Orion</a>. But it has to go through a few more tests before that happens.</p><p>All of the missions in the next two decades are building up to be able to land humans on Mars in the 2030s.</p><p>Newman said the journey is divided into three phases: Earth-dependent, proving ground, and Earth-independent.</p><h3>Earth-dependent (today)</h3><p>NASA will continue to test the effects of space on the human body and conduct experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS).</p><p>Astronaut <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/scott-kelly-lands-safely-after-year-in-space-2016-3">Scott Kelly's year in space</a> was a big part of this phase, since they'll compare what he went through with his twin brother who stayed on the ground.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/gallery/index.html?id=351901">NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Orion spacecraft awaits liftoff during its 2014 flight test aboard a Delta IV rocket.</p></div><p></p></div></div>In 2018, <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-ins-and-outs-of-nasa-s-first-launch-of-sls-and-orion">NASA plans to launch Orion</a> into orbit atop a new Statue of Liberty-size rocket, called the Space Launch System (SLS). The goal is to see if SLS works and how well Orion holds up to radiation in space. The spacecraft will be uncrewed and the mission will last about three weeks.</p><p>The space agency <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/JSC_OrionEFT-1_PressKit_accessible.pdf">already tested Orion in a shorter mission</a> in 2014, which was a success, but this next mission will go near the Moon and back, subjecting the spacecraft to harsher conditions.</p><h3>Proving ground (2020s)</h3><p>The first crewed Orion mission is <a href="http://www.space.com/30560-nasa-orion-space-capsule-crewed-launch-delay.html">scheduled for 2023</a>, when four astronauts will get test the spacecraft themselves.</p><p>To give them something important to do, NASA is launching an <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/about">uncrewed mission called OSIRIS-REx to a nearby asteroid</a>. The spacecraft should arrive and grab a sample by 2018, then come back near Earth by 2023 so the astronauts can go study the rock. This mission will help NASA figure out how humans and robots can work together on deep space missions like they'll have to on Mars, Newman said.</p><p>During the 2020s, NASA also plans to test deep space habitats, possibly on the moon, to experiment with how they'll have to design habitats for the surface of Mars.</p><p>And the agency plans to retire the ISS in <a href="https://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY14/IG-14-031.pdf">2024</a>, Newman said, ending over two decades of unprecedented research and global collaboration. ("Retire" sounds nice, but it likely means <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/578543main_asap_eol_plan_2010_101020.pdf">crashing the space station into the ocean</a>.)</p><p>It's around this time - the mid-2020s - when NASA's plans start to get a little fuzzier and less concrete.</p><h3>Earth-independent (2030s)</h3><p>To the critics' lament, plans get even more speculative in the 2030s.</p><p>NASA wants to launch a crewed, round-trip mission to Mars aboard Orion - but that's about all the details the agency has confirmed so far.</p><p>Newman emphasized the importance of "round-trip:" They're going to bring the astronauts back to Earth. This mission will take three years to complete, and will hopefully be the first of many before we set up a permanent colony on Mars.</p><p>But NASA has a lot to figure out before we get to that point.</p><h2>The challenges</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><h3>Keeping astronauts safe</h3><p>When humans leave the protective shielding that Earth provides, we are highly susceptible to the dangers of space. We evolved on Earth, after all - we're not built for interplanetary travel.</p><p>One of the biggest concerns NASA has with sending astronauts on deep space mission is the dose of radiation they'll receive out there.</p><p>High energy particles from the sun, called coronal mass ejections, and those from outside the solar system, called cosmic rays, can bombard spacecraft with powerful radiation. In turn, this can increase the risk of cancer for the astronauts inside.</p><p>NASA currently <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/1_NAC_HEO_SMD_Committee_Mars_Radiation_Intro_2015April7_Final_TAGGED.pdf">sets a limit for the increase in risk</a> that astronauts would develop and die from cancer, and our current technology wouldn't be able to keep astronauts below that dose on a round-trip to Mars. Our spacecraft will need better shielding, or we'll have to develop drugs to keep this risk at bay, or both.</p><p>But an increased cancer risk is just one of the many health problems that can happen in space. <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/heres-what-happens-to-your-body-in-space-2016-3">Prolonged space travel can</a> also make humans lose bone density and muscle mass, and it may affect their eyesight. Mental health could also <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a8591/5-things-russias-fake-mars-mission-says-about-space-travel-and-office-life-14954479/">be an issue</a> in a confined spacecraft.</p><p>The technical challenges of launching and landing rockets on Mars are one thing - making sure the astronauts stay healthy enough to complete their mission and come home is a whole other.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container full"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://appel.nasa.gov/2012/01/11/building-the-future-spacesuit/">NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">Dava Newman models the spacesuit she designed for astronauts to use on the surface of Mars.</p></div><p></p></div></p><h3>Securing money</h3><p>Convincing Congress to fund far-off missions that lack concrete deadlines is always a struggle, but it's especially tough when that money is for space travel.</p><p>NASA has experienced its share of <a href="http://spacenews.com/nasa-cuts-funds-for-mars-landing-technology-work/">budget cuts</a> in recent years, and the future of funding - particularly with the 2016 election looming - is unclear.</p><p>Some NASA and space experts say we could put humans on Mars <a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/space-experts-warn-congress-that-nasas-journey-to-mars-is-illusory/">within existing budgets</a>. But to truly make this ambitious plan a reality, the agency will <a href="http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2726/1">likely need an influx of cash</a>, particularly in the years when astronauts actually reach the Red Planet.</p><p>NASA could also partner with ambitious companies planning their own Mars landings, <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-spacex-mars-2018-mission-2016-4">like SpaceX</a>. The agency is <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-has-always-contracted-companies-like-spacex-2016-4">increasingly working with industry</a> in a way that is hugely beneficial to both parties, so this could be an economical option.</p><p>Like many basic science endeavors, we don't yet know what knowledge we can gain by going to Mars. Did we foresee all the developments in flight systems, communications, and computers that the moon landings, or the shuttle missions, were going to yield? Of course not.</p><p>Giving NASA money always takes a bit of faith. We don't know what exploring the universe can teach us.</p><p>"We're following our curiosity. ... We don't know where it will take us, but it will bring change, and that itself keeps us alive," NASA engineer <a href="https://twitter.com/steltzner?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Adam Steltzner</a> said at the conference, who led the team that developed the landing system for the Mars Curiosity rover. "The curiosity is in our genes."</p><h2>The inspiration</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/evolution-of-a-martian_np-2015-09-648-larc.pdf">NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">First rovers, then humans.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Former NASA astronaut <a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2015/astronauts-space-1215.html">Tony Antonelli</a> has asked schoolchildren if they think we're going to land humans on Mars soon. To them, it's not a question - it's a given.</p><p>Kids may be the only ones who are as optimistic about these missions as NASA administrators are. They know we'll get "boots on the ground" on Mars within their lifetimes. Some of them might even be the astronauts who make it there.</p><p>The rest of the general public is another story. Importantly for NASA, they're the ones who need convincing to drive that final push to get us there, said Antonelli, who's now the chief technologist of exploration systems for Lockheed Martin's civil line of space systems.</p><p>"We will not go until the American people and the international community are ready and decide that it is a priority," he told Tech Insider. "I really think what we're missing is a sense of urgency, a sense of purpose, and just pushing out and doing it."</p><p>Little kids know it will happen. NASA and its partners are ready to go. Now the public has to get on board to convince their representatives in Washington, too.</p><p>"We have nearly enough information to be able to support humans going to Mars," NASA's Planetary Science Director <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/about-us/organization-and-leadership/division-bios/dr-jim-green/">Jim Green</a> said at the festival. "It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when."</p><p>Are you ready?</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-most-powerful-rocket-mars-2016-2">This is NASA's most powerful rocket in history-and it's going to Mars</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="s4M3JtMDE6ABi5yWTH7EGeryUe4BIiuP" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "OSIRIS REx" and got 13 results

Watch NASA launch a spacecraft to explore ancient asteroids that lead and trail Jupiter around the sun

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

NASA successfully launches a nearly $1 billion mission to an asteroid millions of miles away

Rebecca Harrington

Tonight, NASA is launching a mission that could solve the mystery of life with just a few scoops of dirt

Ali Sundermier

Here's why NASA is risking nearly $1 billion to suck up 2.1 ounces of dirty asteroid

Dave Mosher

A Japanese spacecraft has landed on an asteroid after blasting it with a bullet. The mission will bring back rock samples to Earth.

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

This space probe is almost ready to sample an asteroid - and resolve a mystery of life's origins

Kelly Dickerson

NASA's next big $1 billion mission has a special delivery for Earth

Corey Protin,Jessica Orwig

NASA is about to announce the finalists of its next $1 billion space mission

Dave Mosher

Space 2021: All the Mars landings, eclipses, astronaut flights, rocket launches, and other big missions to look for this year

Morgan McFall-Johnsen,Susie N…

The 10 most important things in the world right now

CHARLES CLARK

Here's how Trump could replace Obama's asteroid catcher with a SpaceX-backed mission to Mars

Dave Mosher

NASA's groundbreaking Cassini probe is dead after 20 years of exploring Saturn

Dave Mosher

This is NASA's audacious plan to land humans on Mars within your lifetime

Rebecca Harrington