On a commercial thoroughfare in old town Pasadena, California, a stone's throw from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), you'll find the Neon Retro Arcade. Among its collection of vintage video games is the 1979 Atari classic Asteroids, in which a pixelated spaceship shoots down a barrage of space rocks to stave off fatal collisions. After long days of work at JPL, Amy Mainzer used to rack up high scores on that console. "It was a hoot," she says. It was also apt, considering she oversees a space mission designed to spot dangerous asteroids before they crash into Earth. That mission, the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor, was conceived in the early 2000s and finally got the green light in 2022. Its components are now being built, tested, and assembled in clean rooms across the United States ahead of its planned launch in September 2027. "We're in the thick of building everything," says Mainzer, NEO Surveyor's principal investigator and now an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Donald Trump wants Washington Commanders to name $3.7billion stadium after him The ugly gossip about Marjorie Taylor Greene swirling in DC... no wonder she's giving this'nothing to see here' performance of a lifetime: KENNEDY Tupac's family hid his final secret for decades. Donald Trump's new city-destroying nuclear missile'is spotted for the first time' as planespotter photographs it on hush-hush test flight The truth about Aaron Rodgers's secret'wife': Family lift the lid on the NFL's biggest mystery... and finally put to bed those swirling rumors Singer Grande shows off her 40 hand'prison' tattoos at Wicked: For Good premiere in Paris Insiders blow lid on top secret actor'blacklist' at Paramount that's tearing Hollywood apart and start naming names White House space sabotage plot EXPOSED: The truth behind the NASA war that tore Trump's inner circle in two Wild image shows how Simone Biles would look next to Olivier Rioux... after he made his college basketball debut Southern city morphs into New York's'tiny twin' as Big Apple residents flock there in droves to escape woke mayor Succession star Sarah Snook's new thriller is the best show of the year - its brings every parent's worst nightmare to life in spectacular fashion and I binged all eight episodes in one sitting Fears as Days of Our Lives is beset by string of tragedies... leaving producers desperately scrambling to save iconic show Soap icon turned ordained minister who flirted with Andy Warhol steps out in LA... can you guess who? She was an award-winning Teacher of the Year. Jeremy Renner's film partner claims he sent her explicit photos and videos to woo her then threatened the unthinkable when they fell out MORE: Scientists discover extraterrestrial relics in the first samples from moon's mysterious far side Two mysterious flashes have been spotted on the moon's surface, sparking a debate over what just struck our nearest neighbor in the solar system. Astronomer Daichi Fujii, curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum in Japan, captured the first of these bright flashes on October 30, revealing a large round dot briefly illuminating the moon's surface before disappearing.

Amino acids may not have arrived on big space rocks after all. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. The scientific community is largely divided into two camps regarding the origins of life on Earth. On one side, the idea that life spontaneously stemmed from the planet's primordial soup of amino acids and organic molecules . On the other side, life arrived after hitching a ride on interstellar debris .

Powerful moment Charlie Kirk's widow Erika holds hands with Usha Vance on his final journey on Air Force Two REVEALED: The truth about the'vanishing plane' five miles from Charlie Kirk's assassination... as private jet owner is unmasked Charlie Kirk's incredible welcome to young gay man who wants to join his conservative movement And the armed militia mystery. FBI terror hunter blows the lid on search for Charlie Kirk's assassin... and the vital clue cops are desperate for Kristin Chenoweth fans surprised over her grieving comment on Charlie Kirk's final video about abortion Charlotte Tilbury reveals the secrets behind the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders' flawless look Go inside the killing that has rocked America - on Daily Mail's podcast The Assassination of Charlie Kirk Charlie Kirk's gesture to my son tells you everything about the man: JILLIAN MICHAELS on her unlikely camaraderie with the conservative giant Joe Rogan is speechless as he learns of Charlie Kirk's assassination on his podcast McDonald's fans disgusted by what customer thinks is'parasite' found in Filet-O-Fish Walkers and hikers have an exciting opportunity to find meteorite fragments that scattered over Scotland this summer, scientists say. The bright meteor was witnessed by some Scots as it streaked across the sky in the early hours of Thursday July 3. It is believed to have exploded over northern Scotland, with the'fall zone' straddling Loch Treig in Lochaber, Highland. The aerial event was captured on some cameras and shared on social media, showing a big yellow spark soaring through the dark sky.

Astronomers and data scientists working with a boost in computer power on loan from Google have discovered 27,500 new asteroids, some perilously close to Earth. Their collaboration hopes to speed up the development of'a comprehensive map of the solar system' needed for'planetary defense,' according to one Harvard astrophysicist, Matthew Holman, who helped develop the asteroid-hunting software. Nearly 1.7 billion points of light, documented in 412,000 infrared images from the US National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) archives, were scanned by the project's novel'killer asteroid'-hunting algorithm. 'This is super important,' as one former NASA astronaut leading the project put it. 'This is the key to protecting the Earth from being hit by asteroids: knowing where all these are.'

Planet Earth is about to receive a special delivery -- the biggest sample yet from an asteroid. A United States space agency (NASA) spacecraft will fly by Earth on Sunday and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest. The sample capsule will parachute into the Utah desert as its mothership, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, zooms off for an encounter with another asteroid. Scientists anticipate getting about 250g (0.5lb) of pebbles and dust, much more than the teaspoon or so brought back by Japan from two other asteroids. No other country has fetched pieces of asteroids, preserved time capsules from the dawn of our solar system that can help explain how Earth -- and life -- came to be.

It has been billed as NASA's'asteroid autumn' and involves a trio of exciting missions that could answer some truly mind-boggling questions. From offering clues to how life on Earth began, to unlocking the secrets of the solar system, key milestones for each voyage are due to play out over the next six weeks. They include one rocket launch, a distant fly-by between Jupiter and Mars, and the recovery of ancient space rocks in the Utah desert that could contain the ingredients for life. Of the three, the lift-off of NASA's Psyche spacecraft probably sounds the most mundane -- but no so fast. That is also a fascinating mission, because it is setting off on a 2.5 billion-mile (4 billion-kilometre) journey to find out once and for all if a metal-rich asteroid really could bring down the world's economy.

The idea of intentionally smashing a spacecraft into an asteroid may evoke memories of science fiction blockbusters such as Armageddon or Deep Impact. But it became a reality last week, as NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft soared into a small asteroid called Dimorphos at 14,000mph, with the aim of tweaking its orbit. The space agency hopes the technology could one day be used to defend Earth against a'doomsday' asteroid or comet. But could we really avoid a future Armageddon if we detected a huge space rock headed our way? MailOnline's Executive Science and Technology Editor, Shivali Best, investigates.

In the first-of-its kind, save-the-world experiment, NASA is about to clobber a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away. A spacecraft named Dart will zero in on the asteroid Monday, intent on slamming it head-on at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). The impact should be just enough to nudge the asteroid into a slightly tighter orbit around its companion space rock -- demonstrating that if a killer asteroid ever heads our way, we'd stand a fighting chance of diverting it. "This is stuff of science-fiction books and really corny episodes of "StarTrek" from when I was a kid, and now it's real," NASA program scientist Tom Statler said Thursday. Cameras and telescopes will watch the crash, but it will take days or even weeks to find out if it actually changed the orbit.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission will leave asteroid Bennu today and begin its 1.4 billion mile, two year long journey back to the Earth, the space agency confirmed. OSIRIS-REx (the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) was the first NASA mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid, survey the surface, and collect a sample to deliver to Earth. The spaceship was sent to study Bennu, an asteroid around the size of the Empire State Building and 200 million miles away, between the orbit of Earth and Mars. OSIRIS-REx gathered 2.1 ounces (60 grams) of rock and dust during its land and grab mission to the surface of the giant space rock, filling its storage compartment. It will begin its long journey home at 21:00 BST (16:00 EDT), with a live broadcast from NASA sharing the moment it fires its thrusters to push away from Bennu's orbit. If all goes to plan, OSIRIS-REx will orbit the sun twice, travelling 1.4 billion miles as it lines up with Earth, returning its samples in Utah on September 24, 2023.