A huge asteroid will come terribly close to Earth in a close encounter today. This asteroid put NASA on alert. Will there be an asteroid collision with Earth?
Amazingly, asteroids are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago. They come in all shapes and sizes, with the largest asteroid measuring 530 kilometers in diameter called Vesta. Asteroids can impact Earth and cause significant damage to life and property, the most recent incident being the Chelyabinsk disaster when space rock entered Earth’s atmosphere above the southern region of the Urals in Russia on February 15, 2013 and caused damage worth nearly $33 million. But will this coming asteroid impact the planet and cause damage to life or physical integrity? All of this information is calculated live through various technologies employed by NASA and that is where we get to know it.
Asteroid 2022 SC1 will pass Earth today, September 20
An 80-foot-wide asteroid named Asteroid 2022 SC1 is expected to pass Earth tomorrow, August 31. The asteroid is already on its way to Earth, traveling at a staggering 36,936 kilometers per hour. Asteroid 2022 SC1 is expected to make its closest approach to Earth today, September 20, at a distance of 5.5 million kilometers. Remarkably, after today, this asteroid is not expected to make another close approach to Earth until the next century!
Although this asteroid is not expected to collide with Earth, a slight deviation from its path due to Earth’s gravitational pull, or for some other reason, can send the asteroid hurtling towards Earth and a collision may ensue. Although you shouldn’t worry because NASA already has a plan underway to engage in planetary defense against rogue asteroids called the DART mission.
NASA DART Mission – All About Technology
A NASA mission is in preparation to divert an asteroid from the collision course with Earth by crashing a simple but technologically impressive spacecraft into it at a staggering speed of 23,000 km/h. Indeed, technology has transformed the spacecraft not only into a data-broadcasting satellite, but also into a destructive missile. The mission is called Double Asteroid Detection Test or DART. Double Asteroid Detection Test or DART Mission is a $240 million NASA mission to protect the Earth from a possible asteroid impact.
The camera on the spaceship is a marvel in itself. NASA’s Didymos Asteroid and Reconnaissance Camera for Optical Navigation (DRACO) took pictures of the target asteroid in July using 243 composite images.
Notably, after the collision, another specialized and technology-equipped spacecraft, the European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft, will fly to the asteroid to study the aftermath of the impact and gather information such as the size of the crater. of impact, the mass of the asteroid and its constitution and internal structure using its CubeSAT satellite to conduct a radar probe of the asteroid.
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