Japan’s Hayabusa space probe, which visited an asteroid and scooped up sample material may not make it back to earth.
Launched in May 2003, the spacecraft uses some amazing experimental ion thrusters, which have been failing one by one. It is now down to a single thruster which is in questionable shape. Whether or not it [...]

In space, 41,000 miles is nearby. Very nearby.
The object with the not-very-memorable name of 2009 DD45 came that close to hitting the earth and causing some very memorable damage. Discovered only days ago, the asteroid is 65 to 164 feet across and was traveling at 12 miles per second at its closest approach to our [...]

The Dawn spacecraft will be whipping around Mars for a gravity-assist this month on its journey to the asteroid belt.
Launched in September 2007, the NASA-built probe is slated to visit Ceres (the biggest asteroid) and Vesta (the brightest). This is still some years away.
Dawn will arrive at Vesta in August 2011 and at Ceres in [...]