Earthquakes on Mars, landing on asteroids and ice on the moon: NASA's latest missions

dailystar.co.uk:

NASA has announced it will extend the deep space missions of eight of its spacecraft – including fascinating expeditions that will encounter a whopping 1,200 foot asteroid, monitor earthquakes on Mars and seek ice on the moon.Boffins from the multi-billion dollar space organisation chose each mission carefully, with a team of over 50 experts prioritising where their cash should end up.Lori Glaze, a top NASA scientist in Washington, said it allowed them to explore “totally new space goals”.She added the missions “obtain valuable new science data, and in some cases, allows NASA to explore new targets”.The Daily Star has taken a look at all eight missions and the exciting aims they could achieve.OSIRIS-APEX: Taking a chunk off an asteroidThis daring space mission is set to take a whopping nine years to complete its task, but the wait could be worth it when it encounters huge space debris.In 2029, a massive asteroid dubbed Apophis is set to come within 20,000 miles of Earth.NASA’s spaceship will have unprecedented access to the object which it will study close-up and report back.Incredibly, NASA’s machine has built in gas thrusters which are going to attempt to dislodge small rocks below its surface to deliver back to Earth.InSight: Earthquakes on MarsThis impressive mission will enable scientists to get better data than ever before on land movement on Mars, dubbed “marsquakes”.It will gather valuable information on Mars’ interior, formation, and current activity.The equipment is the only active seismic monitor in space and will monitor the planet's weather too, although NASA says it is at risk from a “dust devil” in Mars’ atmosphere.Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Water on the moonThis is the first mission of its kind that.