3 ms·
Asteroid's Near Miss of Earth Undetected for 2 Days
- indus 3y agoI thought we have situations like these covered. :/
- defrost 3y ago* We're usually aware of any potentially hazardous space objects long before they get close to our planet. * Asteroid 2023 NT1 was different, though, as it traveled toward us from the sun and thus was hidden by the star's glare. * In an attempt to avoid future situations like these, the European Space Agency (ESA) has planned a project called NEOMIR. The mission will orbit between the Earth and Sun around the first Lagrange point (L1), giving the telescope a view of asteroids that may come toward the Earth from the direction of the Sun. * Unfortunately, it's not set to launch until 2030.
- gniv 3y agoOnce that telescope is in place, can they tell exactly where the asteroid would hit Earth, or is it more like everybody on this hemisphere take cover?
- defrost 3y agoComputer says yes: https://gravitysimulator.org/ https://gravitysimulator.org/ https://spaceengine.org/ https://spaceengine.org/ Once the mass, velocity, heading of an object is known it becomes easier to track and fine tune parameters meaning time of intersect with earth can be calculated which gives orientation of planet and entry attitude. An exact street addres | sub metre grid reference is a big ask, but the "line of breakup" arcing across a narrow slice of the planet is realistic.
- NooneAtAll3 3y agoreminds me of SENTINEL mission with same profile even got into KSP, but real life was much harder
- sam_goody 3y ago"Near Miss"; ie. near hit. But that sounds scary, so we say "near miss". Or maybe they mean "it almost got us - it was near, but it missed!"
- midoridensha 3y agoThe dinosaurs didn't bother investing into a good space program with the ability to detect and divert asteroids, and look where their hubris and shortsightedness got them. Maybe humans will do better, but I'm not so sure.