This month, an asteroid the size of the Eiffel Tower is hurtling towards Earth, and experts are calling it a very remarkable chunk of rock. Because of its closeness to Earth, the asteroid 4660 Nereus is designated as a possibly dangerous object. NASA anticipates it to be at its closest point to Earth in 20 years on Dec. 11. In 1982, the asteroid was found.
The 4660 Nereus is a 330-meter asteroid in the shape of an egg that will pass within 2.5 million miles of Earth during the next week, according to astronomers.
Even though it sounds like a long way away, it’s just around 10 times farther away than the moon, which is considered close by cosmic standards. A near-Earth object is an asteroid or comet that approaches within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit, according to NASA.
Nereus has been recommended as a destination for a space mission several times, according to Forbes, because of its egg form, size, and orbital route around the sun, it is a perfect asteroid to explore. Researchers regarded Nereus as a strong possibility for a rendezvous mission as early as 2009.
We’ll talk about it in this article. In a week, an asteroid will break into Earth’s orbit: NASA So, in order to satisfy your curiosity, let’s get right into it.
Six months is insufficient time to prepare for an asteroid collision
The simulation’s fake asteroid was dubbed 2021PDC. According NASA’s scenario, it was first discovered on April 19 and has a 5% probability of crashing with Earth on October 20, six months after its detection.
However, on Day 2 of the experiment, updated impact-trajectory estimates revealed that the 2021PDC would almost probably hit Europe or northern Africa. The participants in the game evaluated a variety of missions in which spacecraft may try to kill or redirect the asteroid from its course. However, they determined that such missions would not be able to get off the ground in time to avoid the asteroid’s collision.
We would not be able to launch any spacecraft on such short notice with present capabilities if confronted with the 2021PDC hypothetical scenario in real life, the panelists added. They also explored employing a nuclear explosive device to detonate or disturb the asteroid. They discovered that deploying a nuclear disruption mission might greatly lower the chance of impact damage.
Related: Why is Nasa smashing a spacecraft into an asteroid with the Dart mission?
The majority of asteroids go unnoticed, and many are discovered too late.
It’s tempting to believe that scientists would discover an asteroid similar to 2021PDC with considerably more notice than six months in the actual world. However, the world’s surveillance of near-Earth objects (NEOs) is grossly inadequate.
A NEO is space rock with an orbit that brings it within 125 million miles of the sun. However, NASA’s Johnson stated in July that “we’ve only detected approximately a third of the population of asteroids out there that potentially pose an impact threat to the Earth.
Of course, mankind wants to prevent a similar surprise to that one the dinosaurs experienced 65 million years ago when a 6-mile-wide asteroid collided with the Earth. However, scientists have missed several massive, deadly objects that have come near in recent years.
In July, a 3-mile-wide shard of space ice called Comet Neowise came within 64 million miles of Earth. Nobody knew the comet existed until it was found approaching four months before by a NASA space telescope.
In 2013, a meteor with a diameter of 65 feet entered the atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 miles per hour. It erupted without warning above Chelyabinsk, Russia, blasting a shockwave over the region, shattering windows and damaging structures. More than 1,400 individuals were injured as a result of the accident.
Related: Asteroid Bennu surface rocky according to the new NASA report
NASA is experimenting with strategies to thwart an asteroid.
NASA has looked at what choices scientists would have if they discovered a deadly asteroid heading for Earth. Detonating an incendiary material near the space rock, as recommended by the exercise participants, or shooting lasers at the asteroid to heat and melt it enough to change its direction are two possibilities.
Another option is to send a spaceship up to collide with an approaching asteroid, knocking it off course. This is the strategy that NASA is most committed to The FDA plans to conduct a test of this technology later this year. In the fall of 2022, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test will launch a spacecraft to the asteroid Dimorphos and intentionally crash it.
Dimorphos’ orbit may be altered as a result of the impact, according to NASA. While the asteroid poses no threat to Earth, the expedition might demonstrate that diverting an asteroid with adequate advance time is conceivable.
Also read: What would happen if asteroid Apophis hit Earth in 2022?
How many asteroids near Earth have been detected so far?
More than 19,000 near-Earth asteroids had been detected as of the start of 2019. Every week, an average of 30 new discoveries are made. The 15,000th near-Earth asteroid was discovered on October 13, 2016, marking a 50 percent increase in the number of known near-Earth asteroids since August of that year, when discoveries surpassed 10,000.
Since 1998, when NASA started its Near-Earth Object Observations Program and began tracking and documenting them, more than 95 percent of these objects have been found through NASA-funded surveys. The Center for NEO Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory keeps track of asteroid discoveries.
Conclusion
Astronomers were busy collecting measurements of the asteroid Apophis during its most recent flyby, which occurred in early March. Later calculations allowed NASA scientists to declare on March 26, 2021, that Earth is safe for at least the next 100 years from a collision with the moderately massive asteroid.
Radar readings at NASA’s Beatty Deep Space Communications Complex in Florida and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia have ruled out a collision in 2068, the only year in the next 100 with modest risk. Impacts during the forthcoming flybys in 2029 and 2036 have been ruled out by previous observations.
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