Close encounter with asteroid soon! NASA reveals details of space rock racing towards Earth

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART, was carried out in September last year with the space agency smashing a spacecraft into the Dimorphos asteroid to knock it off its course. It was the first-ever planetary defense test conducted to protect Earth against potential asteroid impacts in the future. Now, the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft will observe the aftermath of the collision and even capture images of the asteroid's interior when it launches in 2024.

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Every year there are various space missions conducted to study the mysteries of the solar system. One such mission was launched by NASA nearly 17 years back to study the Sun. The spacecraft, known as the STEREO-A, collected data and was instrumental in unveiling various discoveries over the years. It had a partner too in the form of STEREO-B craft, but communication was lost with it. Now after 17 years, the STEREO-A spacecraft is rushing towards a rendezvous with the Earth. Notably, NASA has taken this opportunity to make STEREO-A further study the Sun from this vantage point in order to collect new information about our closest star.

By Umar Shakir, a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge.

Asteroids are rocky, airless remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago, according to NASA. While most of them are located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the orbits of these space rocks sometimes bring them close to Earth. Thus, it is imperative that these asteroids are observed and tracked for potentially hazardous situations. NASA has various ground and space-based telescopes to study them.

Every year on June 30, we celebrate World Asteroid Day. This day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska event, which is the largest asteroid strike in recorded history. On June 30, 1908, a carbonaceous asteroid crashed in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia, and it decimated nearly 2150 square kilometers of forest area and scored the ground. This resulting explosion was recorded at almost 12 megatons. David Morrison, a planetary science researcher at the NASA Ames Research Center termed it as the “largest cosmic event ever witnessed by humans”.

Asteroids fly by Earth at close distances at regular intervals, but not all of them impact the surface. However, there is no guarantee that none of them ever will. In 2013, an asteroid, the size of a house, exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia and damaged over 8000 buildings, leaving nearly 1000 people injured. More recently, another small space rock landed on a woman's roof in France and hit her in the chest! These close calls with asteroids highlight the importance of observing and tracking them for any potential close approaches to the planet.

Asteroids have been known to make frequent close approaches to Earth at regular intervals. That is why space agencies such as NASA and ESA observe, track and even name them. But how does this process take place? According to ESA, the process of assigning a provisional designation to an asteroid begins when a single observer detects it on two consecutive nights and then sends their findings to the Minor Planet Centre of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Asteroids follow orbits that occasionally bring them near Earth, and their potential threat to our planet is a concern acknowledged by the US space agency NASA. Throughout time, various asteroid impacts have occurred, such as the Chelyabinsk asteroid event and the devastating Chicxulub asteroid, which is believed to have resulted in dinosaur extinction. More recently, an incident in France involved a space rock striking a woman in the chest. Putting things in perspective is NASA's Dr. Kelly E. Fast, who emphasizes that Earth has experienced asteroid impacts in the past and believes that such events will recur. The idea is to find and track all asteroids that pose a threat to Earth and deal with it.

NASA is back in touch with the Voyager 2 spacecraft following an antenna accident that left it cruising through beyond the outer part of our solar system alone.

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is gearing up for the big reveal of the pristine asteroid sample that was collected by its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. During its mission, the spacecraft collected a sample from an asteroid called Bennu which has a 1/2700 chance of impacting Earth between 2175 and 2195. Studying it will not only improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth but also shed light on planet formation and the origin of organics and water that could have led to life, as per NASA.