Electric Vehicles to Explore Deep Space (Photo Gallery)

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Hayabusa's Fiery Return

A. Ikeshita/MEF/ISAS

A small capsule containing dust from the asteroid Itokawa touched down in June 2010 at the Woomera test range in the Australian Outback. Launched in May 2003, Hayabusa suffered a host of technical problems.

How NASA's Dawn Asteroid Mission Works (Infographic)

Karl Tate/SPACE.com

NASA's Dawn probe is using electric propulsion to visit the two largest objects in the asteroid belt.

Dawn Leaves Protoplanet Vesta

NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived at the giant asteroid Vesta in July 2011 and departed in September 2012 to head to the dwarf planet Ceres.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.