A flurry of spacecraft have visited asteroids in recent decades to piece together the secrets of the solar system, and more such objectives are launching soon.Galileo is very first to an asteroid!Image 1 of 3Gaspra (Image credit: NASA/JPL)Image 2 of 3Ida and Dactyl (Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS)Image 3 of 3An artists depiction of the Galileo spacecraft. After Galileos asteroid experiences, it went on to Jupiter, but NASA had not finished with area rocks.NEAR-Shoemaker lands on ErosImage 1 of 4Eros and Mathilde (Image credit: NASA)Image 2 of 4Mathilde (Image credit: NASA/NEAR Shoemaker)Image 3 of 4Eros (Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL)Image 4 of 4An artists representation of the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft at Eros. Images from the spacecraft showed few effect craters, although a “rubble stack” appears on the surface.Europes Rosetta comet objective flies by asteroidsImage 1 of 3Steins (Image credit: ESA/UPD/LAM/ IAA/RSSD/INTA/ UPM/DASP/IDA)Image 2 of 3Lutetia (Image credit: ESA/UPD/LAM/ IAA/RSSD/INTA/ UPM/DASP/IDA)Image 3 of 3An artists depiction of the Rosetta spacecraft and Philae lander. Rosetta landed on the comet on Sept. 30, 2016, to end its mission.NASAs Dawn risesImage 1 of 6Vesta (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)Image 2 of 6Vesta (Image credit: NASA)Image 3 of 6Ceres (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/ MPS/DLR/IDA)Image 4 of 6Ahuna Mons on Ceres (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/ MPS/DLR/IDA)Image 5 of 6A intense area on Ceres discovered by the Dawn mission. Procyon did, however, catch a glance of Comet 67P, the location of the Rosetta mission.New Horizons explores Kuiper Belt item ArrokothImage 1 of 5Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko)Image 2 of 5Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute, National Optical Astronomy Observatory)Image 3 of 5Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory)Image 4 of 5New Horizons first view of Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)Image 5 of 5An artists depiction of the New Horizons spacecraft at Arrokoth.
After Galileos asteroid experiences, it went on to Jupiter, however NASA hadnt ended up with space rocks.NEAR-Shoemaker lands on ErosImage 1 of 4Eros and Mathilde (Image credit: NASA)Image 2 of 4Mathilde (Image credit: NASA/NEAR Shoemaker)Image 3 of 4Eros (Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL)Image 4 of 4An artists depiction of the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft at Eros. Rosetta landed on the comet on Sept. 30, 2016, to end its mission.NASAs Dawn risesImage 1 of 6Vesta (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)Image 2 of 6Vesta (Image credit: NASA)Image 3 of 6Ceres (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/ MPS/DLR/IDA)Image 4 of 6Ahuna Mons on Ceres (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/ MPS/DLR/IDA)Image 5 of 6A brilliant spot on Ceres discovered by the Dawn mission. Procyon did, nevertheless, catch a look of Comet 67P, the location of the Rosetta mission.New Horizons explores Kuiper Belt item ArrokothImage 1 of 5Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko)Image 2 of 5Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute, National Optical Astronomy Observatory)Image 3 of 5Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory)Image 4 of 5New Horizons very first view of Arrokoth (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)Image 5 of 5An artists depiction of the New Horizons spacecraft at Arrokoth.