Development of Planetary Science
Asteroid Explorations
2017 Volume 72 Issue 2 Pages 98-104
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2017 Volume 72 Issue 2 Pages 98-104
More than 200 years have passed since the first discovery of an asteroid, Ceres, in 1801, and at present the number of discovered asteroids has exceeded 700,000. Spacecraft have approached about 10 asteroids, and we know various features of asteroids, which were not seen from ground based observations. Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa succeeded in sample return form an asteroid, and the sample analysis is on going. Thus, our knowledge about asteroids is increasing rapidly now. In this paper we summarize about the current situation from the point of asteroid explorations.
