This Epic Ion Engine Will Power NASA's Test Mission to Redirect an Asteroid
Despite humanity's current struggle against the novel coronavirus, and despite it taking up most of our attention, other threats still exist. The very real threat of a possible asteroid strike on Earth in the future is taking a backseat for now, but it's still there.
Though an asteroid strike seems kind of ephemeral right now, it's a real threat, and one that has the potential to end humanity. Agencies like NASA and the ESA are still working on their plans to protect us from that threat.
In case you are keeping track:
Japan's Experiment to Calculate an Asteroid's Age Was a Smashing Success | Smart
Last April, Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft created an artificial crater on the asteroid, Ryugu, by hurling a four-pound copper ball, called SCI, toward the asteroid's surface at about 4,500 miles per hour in order to calculate Ryugu's age. Now, results from the out-of-this-world experiment are in.
Previous calculations suggested the surface of the asteroid might be anywhere from a few million to 200 million years old. The new study, published on March 19 in the journal Science , uses the results of the artificial impact to give a more accurate estimate of Ryugu's age: between six and 11 million years old.
Asteroid flyby: NASA-tracked rock will swing past Earth tomorrow at 30,000MPH | Science | News |
NASA expects the space rock to come flying through our corner of space on a so-called "Earth close approach" this Saturday, March 28, at about 6.15am GMT.
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NASA has named the asteroid a near-Earth object (NEO) but the rock does not pose any threat to our planet.
"Note that a 'close' passage astronomically can be very far away in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometres."
A single astronomical unit measures the average distance from the Sun to Earth - about 93 million miles (149.6 million km).
Asteroid flyby: A 390m rock will zip past Earth tomorrow at speeds of 53,000mph | Science | News
But the asteroid will only come "close" in astronomical terms, which means it will be many millions of miles away.
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"Note that a 'close' passage astronomically can be very far away in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometres."
A single astronomical unit describes the distance from our planet to the Sun - about 93 million miles (149.6 million km).
In other words, even at its closest, the space rock will be 17.33 times as far away as the Moon is.
In case you are keeping track:
A Massive 1,280-Foot Asteroid Will Shoot Past Earth Tonight At 53,000 MPH
The giant space rock will pass by our planet a few minutes before midnight EST, missing Earth by 4.1 million miles.
A giant asteroid thought to be so large that it could fit in the Great Pyramid of Giza nearly three times over is headed toward Earth for a so-called “close approach” later tonight, NASA has announced. The massive rock is shrieking across space at an incredible speed of just under 53,000 mph and will safely pass by our planet at 11:52 p.m. EST. NASA assures the flyby is nothing to worry about, as the asteroid will miss Earth by 4.1 million miles.
US Residents Watch As Asteroid Hits Earth And Creates Bright Fireball Event
Residents from various states in the U.S. spotted a bright fireball streaking across the night sky. Based on eyewitness reports, the fireball was most likely caused by a small asteroid colliding with Earth and burning up in the atmosphere.
According to the data gathered by the American Meteor Society , the incident occurred on March 25 at around 10:40 p.m. EDT. In total, the organization received seven eyewitness reports from different individuals.
NASA pulls out incredibly high-res global map of asteroid Bennu
The map is a mosaic made up of 2,155 individual images, giving it an incredibly high resolution of just 2 inches (5 cm) per pixel. That makes it the highest-resolution global map of any planetary body to date.
The images used to make the map were snapped by OSIRIS-REx between March 7 and April 19, 2019. During that time, the spacecraft was flying overhead at an altitude of between 1.9 to 3.1 miles (3.1 to 5 km).
The current plan is for the craft to land in August for as little as five seconds, during which time it will scoop up a sample of the regolith material to return to Earth for study. If all goes as planned, OSIRIS-REx will leave asteroid Bennu in March 2021, and finally arrive back here on Earth in September 2023.
Olbers and the discovery of the brightest asteroid - The Hindu
You must have surely heard about asteroids, a class of objects in the solar system. Small, rocky objects that orbit the sun, these asteroids are, however, much smaller than the planets. Remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system, the current known asteroid count is over 9,50,000. Most of these asteroids exist in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. They vary in size, starting from 4 Vesta, the largest at about 530 km in diameter, to those less than 10 m across.
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