{"id":32460,"date":"2012-02-01T09:32:51","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T14:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=32460"},"modified":"2024-02-09T11:54:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T16:54:17","slug":"asteroids-the-new-it-mission-for-space-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/asteroids-the-new-it-mission-for-space-exploration\/","title":{"rendered":"Asteroids: The New &#8216;It Mission&#8217; for Space Exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Japanese are heading back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/space\/\">into space<\/a> on a second attempt to collect samples from a nearby asteroid.<\/p>\n<p>The asteroid selected, 1999 JU3 is a perfect specimen, said Humberto Campins, a University of Central Florida professor and international expert on asteroids and comets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on our analysis, it should be rich in primitive materials, specifically organic molecules and hydrated minerals from the early days of our solar system,\u201d Campins said. \u201cIf successful it could give us clues about the birth of water and life in our world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Campins has been studying the 1999 JU3 for years. He published an article in 1999 in <em>Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics<\/em> on this asteroid and its potential to hold raw materials and perhaps even evidence of water. It is believed to have come from the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>Finding water in asteroids and comets is a major focus of research. NASA and the European Space Agency are both planning trips to recover samples from two asteroids in the next five to seven years through the OSIRIS-REx\u00a0(NASA) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www-n.oca.eu\/MarcoPolo-R\/\/\">Marco Polo-R<\/a> (European Space Agency) missions. Campins is part of both teams.<\/p>\n<p>Since the end of Space Shuttle flights in 2011, robotic missions to collect asteroid samples have become popular. NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have all announced missions that could launch as early as 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The samples recovered by these missions could help explain how planets formed, provide information about the origin of organic molecules and life on Earth, and probe the physical structure of an asteroid. Knowing more about the structure of asteroids is important in developing strategies for preventing potentially threatening asteroids from striking earth.<\/p>\n<p>JAXA got into the asteroid lassoing business early. In 2003 it sent off a probe to scoop up a sample from another asteroid near Earth. Although the collection mechanism did not work properly, when the probe returned to earth in 2010 and scientists cracked open the package, they were pleased to find a small amount of asteroidal dust.<\/p>\n<p>Campins has several degrees including a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona. He has earned several awards over the years, including a Fulbright Senior Award, an SAIC Prize for Outstanding Physics and a NASA-Ames Research Center Achievement Award. He\u2019s written more than 100 articles and led international workshops and research projects. His work has made such an impact in the field of planetary sciences that in 1987 the International Astronomical Union named Asteroid 3327 after Campins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Japanese are heading back into space on a second attempt to collect samples from a nearby asteroid. The asteroid selected, 1999 JU3 is a perfect specimen, said Humberto Campins, a University of Central Florida professor and international expert on asteroids and comets. \u201cBased on our analysis, it should be rich in primitive materials, specifically organic molecules and hydrated minerals&hellip;","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":32461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[2229,4361,202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-32460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-humberto-campins","tag-space","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Asteroids: The New &#039;It Mission&#039; for Space Exploration | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Japanese are heading back into space on a second attempt to collect samples from a nearby asteroid. 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