Asteroid alert! 180-foot space rock set for first-ever close approach to Earth, shares NASA

Over the course of Earth's 4.5 billion-year-old history, there have been several major asteroid impacts that have had a significant impact on the future of the planet and helped humanity to emerge as a dominant force. Perhaps the most consequential impact occurred almost 65 million years ago when a mammoth 12-kilometer-wide asteroid crashed into the surface and obliterated nearly 70 percent of Earth's species including dinosaurs. The crater where the asteroid crashed can still be found today in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Such large asteroids have the potential to cause global devastation if they crash. Fortunately, NASA and other space agencies now have an arsenal of space and ground-based telescopes to discover and track them.

The FCC has issued its first-ever fine geared toward preventing space debris. 

NASA has been working on its Psyche mission for the last few years but hasn't been able to launch it yet. The space mission to the 16 Psyche asteroid has been delayed several times now, with the most recent happening on October 5. The $1.2 billion mission was set to launch via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA's Discovery missions but was delayed, giving NASA more time to reverify parameters that control the rocket's nitrogen cold gas thrusters. For the unaware, the 16 Psyche asteroid is made up of gold, nickel, and iron deposits and is supposedly worth more than Earth's economy.

Asteroids are in constant focus of most space scientists due to their potential for causing global destruction. Asteroids are space rocks that follow distinct orbits in the vastness of space. According to NASA, some of these ancient cosmic rocks pose a potential threat of colliding with Earth. Although most of them reside in the primary asteroid belt situated between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, some of these space rocks approach Earth, with some coming within just a few hundred thousand kilometers of our planet. This proximity raises concerns about the possibility of these asteroids impacting Earth. And now, NASA has informed about a humongous asteroid that is traveling towards Earth rapidly. This is a 2200-foot asteroid that has been designated as 349507 (2008 QY).

NASA tracks all asteroids that stray close to the Earth because they could pose a potential danger. Apart from that, information about the origin of various asteroids can solve multiple mysteries about the universe. Recently NASA has successfully brought back a chunk of asteroid Bennu from space with the help of ORISIS- REX spacecraft. This asteroid sample is a huge achievement in the field of space exploration. Now, NASA is on its next asteroid mission called Psyche. According to NASA, this mission will study this metallic asteroid. The asteroid orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. As explained by NASA, the Psyche asteroid has a nickel-iron core that was essential in creating our solar system. One of the mission's main objectives is to get as close as 280 kilometers to Asteroid Psyche. The mission will help reveal various facts about the solar system and more.

The NASA Asteroid Psyche Mission was scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on October 5, 2023, on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. However, the mission launch has been delayed due to further inspections and verification of the spacecraft and its equipped instruments. Now the mission has been rescheduled with a week's delay and it is scheduled to launch on October 12, 2023.

After yesterday's close call with Asteroid 2023 SF6, which passed Earth at a close distance of just 1.4 million kilometers, yet another asteroid approach is expected today. NASA has now revealed that an asteroid is expected to just about miss Earth. While it isn't expected to impact the surface, it could pass by very closely. NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which is responsible for monitoring the skies against the threat of rogue asteroids, has issued a warning against the close approach of an asteroid designated as Asteroid 2023 SW6.

Asteroids are huge space rocks that revolve around in their orbits in space. According to NASA, some of these ancient space rocks present a potential threat of collision with Earth while others can help discover secrets of space. While most of them are located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, these rocks often make close approaches to Earth as their orbits bring them within a couple of million kilometers of our planet. This presents a threat - could these space rocks somehow make their way to Earth? History has taught us that it certainly is possible. This can happen if an asteroid gets knocked off course, affected by a large planet's gravitational pull. Their orbits can also bring them extremely close to Earth.

NASA is on a continuous mission to track and study asteroids especially the ones that come too close to the Earth for comfort. The US space agency goes to considerable lengths to increase its knowledge about the space rocks. The most recent case being the retrieval of an asteroid sample from a spacecraft it had sent out to collect it. It achieved this significant milestone yesterday by successfully retrieving the space capsule containing the samples from Asteroid Bennu. These precious samples were collected by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2020 and the craft came back now. This marked NASA's inaugural attempt and triumph in acquiring samples from an asteroid.

Asteroids are a small, but inseparable part of our solar system, but they possess a massive potential for destruction. Therefore, NASA is on a continuous mission to track asteroids and study them in order to take preventive measures in case the threat is serious. NASA actively monitors asteroids to safeguard Earth and enhance our understanding of their paths as they hold many secrets. When NASA's telescopes detect a new Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), the agency's astronomers gather observational data and share it with the Minor Planet Center. Subsequently, the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) utilizes this information to compute the asteroid's probable orbit around the Sun. To monitor asteroids, NASA astronomers have developed a next-generation impact monitoring algorithm called Sentry-II in order to evaluate NEA impact probabilities efficiently.

Have you ever thought what would happen if Earth got hit by an asteroid? Even the thought of it is scary. While that has not happened for quite some time now, the threat is constantly present. It is also something that is inevitable and that is why space agencies like NASA keep a constant watch on all asteroids approaching Earth. While it is not in the hands of humankind to stop an approaching asteroid, NASA has successfully tested a mission where it was able to divert an asteroid from its path. This was the DART mission.

NASA's first mission to retrieve an asteroid sample and return it to US soil is expected to reach a perilous finale on Sunday with a descent into the Utah desert.