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Archive for the ‘asteroid/comet impacts’ category: Page 15

Jul 26, 2021

Asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza just flew (safely)

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

😀


An asteroid about as long as the Great Pyramid of Giza is tall made a “close” approach with Earth on Sunday (July 25), according to NASA calculations.

There is no worry that the space rock poses any threat to Earth, but NASA monitors such rocks to both learn more about the early solar system — asteroids are rocky fragments from that time — and because if their orbits were to change, the asteroid could pose a future risk to Earth.

Jul 24, 2021

Asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza to fly (safely)

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

An asteroid about as long as the Great Pyramid of Giza is tall will make a “close” approach with Earth on Sunday (July 25), according to NASA calculations.

There is no worry that the space rock poses any threat to Earth, but NASA monitors such rocks to both learn more about the early solar system — asteroids are rocky fragments from that time — and because if their orbits were to change, the asteroid could pose a future risk to Earth.

Jul 8, 2021

Repurposed communications satellites could help save humanity from an asteroid impact

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, satellites

What do you do if you discover a big rock on a collision course with Earth and have very little time to take action?


Large telecommunication satellites used for TV broadcasting could be quickly and easily repurposed as anti-asteroid weapons according to European aerospace company Airbus.

Jun 15, 2021

NASA approved a space telescope that could save Earth from an asteroid

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

NASA finally approves the launch of an infrared asteroid hunting space telescope able to locate threats 30M miles away



NASA has approved the Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope to help the space agency be better prepared for future asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth.

The 20-foot-long infrared telescope would help astronomers and planetary scientists find ‘most’ of the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit, also known as near-Earth objects (NEOs).

Continue reading “NASA approved a space telescope that could save Earth from an asteroid” »

Jun 14, 2021

Where do meteorites come from? A new study challenges popular theory

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

By knowing where meteorites come from, we can protect the Earth from asteroid collisions.


After examining 10000 kilograms of sedimentary rock, a new study suggests that meteorites come from an unidentified region in the asteroid belt.

May 1, 2021

In a NASA simulation of an asteroid impact, scientists concluded they couldn’t stop a space rock from decimating Europe

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

Scientists around the world have been bamboozled this week by a fictitious asteroid heading toward Earth.

A group of experts from US and European space agencies attended a week-long exercise led by NASA in which they faced a hypothetical scenario: An asteroid 35 million miles away was approaching the planet and could hit within six months.

Apr 17, 2021

These are the asteroids to worry about

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, mapping, physics

Stephen Hawking thought an asteroid impact posed the greatest threat to life on Earth. Thanks to Kiwico for sponsoring this video. For 50% off your first month of any crate, go to https://kiwico.com/veritasium50
For other potential world ending catastrophes, check out Domain of Science: https://ve42.co/DoS

Special thanks to:
Prof. Dave Jewitt from UCLA Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences.
Prof. Mark Boslough from Sandia National Labs.
Scott Manley: https://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg.
Ryan Wyatt at Morrison Planetarium.
Prof. Amy Mainzer.
Alexandr Ivanov for the opening shot of Chelyabinsk Meteor.

Continue reading “These are the asteroids to worry about” »

Apr 2, 2021

OSIRIS-REx to make final close approach to asteroid before heading back to Earth

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

WASHINGTON — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will make one final close approach to the asteroid it collected samples from next week before heading back to Earth.

On April 7, the spacecraft will pass 3.7 kilometers above the location on the asteroid Bennu called Nightingale where, in October, the spacecraft briefly touched down and collected as much as several hundred grams of material, now stored in the spacecraft.

Immediately after that sample collection maneuver, the mission had no plans to return to the vicinity of Bennu. However, NASA decided to make a final pass over the touchdown site to see what changes the sampling made to the Nightingale region, like the creation of a crater.

Apr 1, 2021

Particles of a Meteor Explosion From 430,000 Years Ago Found Hidden in Antarctic Ice

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, particle physics

Approximately 430000 years ago, a meteorite exploded over Antarctica.

The only reason we know about it now is because scientists have just found tiny, once-molten particles of space rock that have been hidden away in the ice ever since.

Based on an analysis of those particles, the event was an unusual one — not quite powerful enough to produce an impact crater, but nor was it a lightweight. The jet of melted and vaporized material that blasted from the mid-air explosion would have been more hazardous than the Tunguska event that flattened a Siberian forest in 1908.

Mar 30, 2021

Asteroid collision ruled out for 100+ years

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

A collision between Earth and the asteroid 99942 Apophis can be ruled out, for at least the next century, based on new observations by NASA.

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