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Nasa deep space probe reaches asteroid deemed to be potential Earth threat
Orlando (Florida, US): Nasa’s deep space explorer Osiris-Rex flew on Monday to within a dozen miles of its destination, a skyscraper-sized asteroid believed to hold organic compounds fundamental to life as well as the potential to collide with Earth in about 150 years.
Launched in September 2016, Osiris-Rex embarked on Nasa’s unprecedented seven-year mission to conduct a close-up survey of the asteroid Bennu, collect a sample from its surface and return that material to Earth for study.
Bennu, a rocky mass roughly a third of a mile wide and shaped like a giant acorn, orbits the sun at roughly the same distance as Earth and is thought to be rich in carbon-based organic molecules dating back to the earliest days of the solar system. Water, another vital component to the evolution of life, may also be trapped in the asteroid’s minerals.
Scientists believe that asteroids and comets crashing into early Earth delivered organic compounds and water that seeded the planet for life, and atomic-level analysis of samples from Bennu could help prove that theory.
But there is another, more existential reason to study Bennu.
Scientists estimate there is a one-in-2,700 chance of the asteroid slamming catastrophically into Earth 166 years from now. That probability ranks Bennu No. 2 on Nasa’s catalog of 72 near-Earth objects potentially capable of hitting the planet.
Osiris-Rex will help scientists understand how heat radiated from the sun is gently steering Bennu on an increasingly menacing course through the solar system.
That solar energy is believed to be nudging the asteroid ever closer toward Earth’s path each time the asteroid makes its closest approach to our planet every six years.
“By the time we collect the sample in 2020 we will have a much better idea of the probability that Bennu would impact Earth in the next 150 years,” mission spokeswoman Erin Morton said. Scientists have estimated that in 2135 Bennu could pass closer to Earth than the moon, which orbits at a distance of about 250,000 miles, and possibly come closer still some time between 2175 and 2195.
Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018
Comments (5) Closed
If it is only the size of a skyscarpper (I said only, as compared to the moon or earth). Why cant we just steer it clear out of the path. It would just need some big rocket engines, which NASA already boasts of.
Salute to all scientists engaged in this grand space project, good luck indeed..!
Thank You NASA and USA for keeping us safe
Much before 150 years, man will send a robot to that rock with enough of intelligence to find best possible mean either to disintegrate that rock body into small pieces and scatter or, find a way to steer that rock on an outer course, away from Earth.
@Salman,
That’s why they’re retrieving samples. They’ll be able to determine its exact makeup, mass, size, its path, its changing velocity, etc. The scientists will make recommendations on changing its direction, and so forth. Since it is already in an orbit comparable to that of earth, it might be ideal for use as a future outpost. Perhaps a space station could be built in the shape of a giant circular rim around it, and attached to the surface. The mineral deposits could be mined and used to build the circular rim structure, then it could be inhabited continuously. You could create artificial gravity (centrifugal force) by rotating the asteroid and circular rim, and add a small nuclear reactor for power and generation of a electromagnetic protection field against radiation, etc..