Latest news with #Earth-threatening
Arabian Post
4 days ago
- Science
- Arabian Post
Venusian Asteroids with Unstable Orbits May Threaten Earth
A cluster of asteroids co-orbiting with Venus has captured the attention of astronomers due to their unpredictable trajectories, which could potentially intersect with Earth's orbit over extended timescales. These celestial bodies, known as Venus co-orbital asteroids, are challenging to detect from Earth because of their proximity to the Sun, raising concerns about the adequacy of current asteroid monitoring systems. Recent simulations indicate that some of these asteroids possess highly eccentric and unstable orbits, increasing the likelihood of them being perturbed into Earth-crossing paths. Researchers from institutions in Brazil, France, and Italy have identified at least 20 such co-orbital asteroids, with three—designated 2020 SB, 524522, and 2020 CL1—highlighted as particularly concerning due to their size and orbital characteristics. These asteroids range from approximately 100 to 400 meters in diameter, and an impact from one could release energy equivalent to millions of tons of TNT, potentially causing regional devastation. The detection of these asteroids is hampered by their location near the Sun, which limits observation windows for ground-based telescopes. Even advanced observatories like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile may provide only a few weeks' notice before a potential impact, depending on the asteroids' approach trajectories. This limited warning time underscores the need for improved detection methods, particularly those that can observe the inner solar system more effectively. ADVERTISEMENT The dynamic nature of these asteroids' orbits is influenced by gravitational interactions with Venus, Earth, and other planetary bodies, as well as non-gravitational forces like the Yarkovsky effect, which can alter an asteroid's path over time. The chaotic orbital behavior of these asteroids makes long-term predictions challenging, with some simulations suggesting that their trajectories could become Earth-threatening within the next few centuries. To address this potential hazard, scientists advocate for the development of space-based observation platforms positioned closer to the Sun or in orbits that provide better viewing angles of the inner solar system. Such platforms could significantly enhance the detection and tracking of asteroids that are currently obscured by solar glare when viewed from Earth. Additionally, international collaboration on planetary defense strategies, including the development of asteroid deflection technologies, is considered essential to mitigate the risks posed by these elusive celestial objects.
Telegraph
14-03-2025
- Science
- Telegraph
European Space Agency spacecraft to steer asteroids away from Earth
Hollywood films would have you believe that the best way to deal with an Earth-threatening asteroid is to blast it out of orbit. But the European Space Agency (ESA) is looking at a far subtler approach to saving the planet – a gravity tractor. The plan involves sending a spacecraft to rendezvous with a dangerous asteroid and use its tiny gravitational field to slightly alter the space rock's trajectory so that, over time, it would soar harmlessly past Earth. It is an idea that has been floated for decades, but recently become more pressing after the 2024 YR4 scare earlier this year, an asteroid that came seemingly out of nowhere and at one point had a one in 32 chance of hitting Earth in December 2032. Joseph Aschbacher, director general of ESA, admitted he had been ''very worried' about 2024 YR4 and said the space agency was stepping up its planetary defence capabilities. Speaking to The Telegraph at Space-Comm expo this week, Dr Aschbacher said: 'I was very worried. 'If the asteroid is in front of your door, more or less, it's too late, and we probably cannot do much. 'The earlier you detect an asteroid that might impact planet Earth, and the earlier you can take action far away from planet Earth, the higher the chances are that it will not have negative impacts. '(A planetary defence mission) may actually start, by just sending a satellite there, and letting it fly close by the asteroid so that the gravity of the satellite influences the gravity of the asteroid itself. 'Slightly by degrees, it would change the trajectory, and therefore may result in a different trajectory than the ones that might be directed to Earth. So the further away you can do it, the bigger the chances of minimising damage.' Apophis rock no longer a risk Last year, ESA announced that it planned to rendezvous with the asteroid 99942 Apophis, a cruise ship-sized rock, which makes an exceptionally close flyby of Earth in April 2029, when it will be visible to the naked eye. The mission, called Ramses (Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety), will give a crucial window into how asteroids are affected by gravitational forces – in this case, the gravity of Earth. Apophis was predicted to get dangerously close to Earth in 2068, but experts have since revised their calculations and no longer see it as a risk. 'We have a mission planned already to encounter that asteroid before it comes to Earth, and to really measure it,' added Dr Aschbacher. 'We are not assuming it will hit planet Earth, but it will fly by very closely, and that will be quite a spectacle, in terms of every citizen being able to see it, but it is a unique opportunity to really study the asteroid close by.' Most asteroids and comets have orbits that do not bring them very close to Earth, and they are only classed as dangerous if they come within 4.6 million miles and are larger than 460 feet. But occasionally they can hit. The last major impacts include the Tunguska event in 1908 in Siberia which felled an estimated 80 million trees, while the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor is the only known incident in modern times which resulted in numerous injuries. Only one asteroid deflection test has ever taken place in space. In 2022, Nasa sent its Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft to crash into Dimorphos, a 525ft-wide 'moonlet' which circles a larger asteroid called Didymos. The team had hoped the impact would shorten Didymos' 11 hour 11 minute orbit by a few minutes, but it ended up shaving off around half an hour. However, the impact had unexpected consequences, unleashing a storm of boulders 'as deadly as Hiroshima' and proving that deflection strategies could have unintended consequences that leave smaller rocks on a collision course with Earth. In contrast, a gravity tractor would cause less collateral damage, gently nudging an Earth-bound asteroid in a new trajectory. Last year, ESA launched a spacecraft, named Hera, which is travelling to Didymos-Dimorphos to assess the true scale of the damage in a mission which will help determine which asteroid defence scheme will be chosen in the event of another scare. It is due to arrive in October next year. Dr Paul Bate, the chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: 'Asteroids are one of the ways in which you show the power in space, so we are right to be worried. 'Whether we like it or not, these things have been happening literally since the start of the solar system. We're connected. 'We don't have any choice, but we know we can actively choose to understand more and that's very important for deflection, for protecting our planet.'
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
European Space Agency working on spacecraft to steer asteroids away from Earth
Hollywood films would have you believe that the best way to deal with an Earth-threatening asteroid is to blast it out of orbit. But the European Space Agency (ESA) is looking at a far subtler approach to saving the planet - a gravity tractor. The plan involves sending a spacecraft to rendezvous with a dangerous asteroid and use its tiny gravitational field to slightly alter the space rock's trajectory so that, over time, it would soar harmlessly past Earth. It is an idea that has been floating around for several decades, but has only recently become more pressing following the 2024 YR4 scare earlier this year - an asteroid that came seemingly out of nowhere and at one point had a one in 32 chance of hitting Earth in December 2032. Joseph Aschbacher, the Director General of ESA, admitted he had been ''very worried' about 2024 YR4 and said the space agency was stepping up its planetary defence capabilities. Speaking to The Telegraph at Space-Comm expo this week, Dr Aschbacher said: 'I was very worried. 'If the asteroid is in front of your door, more or less, it's too late, and we probably cannot do much. 'The earlier you detect an asteroid that might impact planet Earth, and the earlier you can take action far away from planet Earth, the higher the chances are that it will not have negative impacts. '(A planetary defence mission) may actually start, by just sending a satellite there, and letting it fly close by the asteroid so that the gravity of the satellite influences the gravity of the asteroid itself. 'Slightly by degrees, it would change the trajectory, and therefore may result in a different trajectory than the ones that might be directed to Earth. So the further away you can do it, the bigger the chances of minimising damage.' Last year, ESA announced that it planned to rendezvous with the asteroid 99942 Apophis, a cruise ship-sized rock, which makes an exceptionally close flyby of Earth in April 2029, when it will be visible to the naked eye. The mission, called Ramses (Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety), will give a crucial window into how asteroids are impacted by gravitational forces - in this case, the gravity of Earth. Apophis was predicted to get dangerously close to Earth in 2068, but experts have since revised their calculations and no longer see it as a risk. 'We have a mission planned already to encounter that asteroid before it comes to Earth, and to really measure it,' added Dr Aschbacher. 'We are not assuming it will hit planet Earth, but it will fly by very closely, and that will be quite a spectacle, in terms of every citizen being able to see it, but it is a unique opportunity to really study the asteroid close by.' Most asteroids and comets have orbits that do not bring them very close to Earth, and they are only classed as dangerous if they come within 4.6 million miles and are larger than 460 feet. But occasionally they can hit. The last major impacts include the Tunguska event in 1908 in Siberia which felled an estimated 80 million trees, while the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor is the only known incident in modern times which resulted in numerous injuries. Only one asteroid deflection test has ever taken place in space. In 2022, Nasa sent its Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft to crash into Dimorphos – a 525ft-wide 'moonlet' which circles a larger asteroid called Didymos. The team had hoped the impact would shorten Didymos' 11 hour 11 minute orbit by a few minutes, but it ended up shaving off around half an hour. However, the impact had unexpected consequences, unleashing a storm of boulders 'as deadly as Hiroshima' and proving that deflection strategies could have unintended consequences that leave smaller rocks on a collision course with Earth. In contrast, a gravity tractor would cause less collateral damage, gently nudging an Earth-bound asteroid in a new trajectory. Last year, ESA launched a spacecraft, named Hera, which is travelling to Didymos-Dimorphos to assess the true scale of the damage in a mission which will help determine which asteroid defence scheme will be chosen in the event of another scare. It is due to arrive in October next year. Dr Paul Bate, the chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: 'Asteroids are one of the ways in which you show the power in space, so we are right to be worried. 'Whether we like it or not, these things have been happening literally since the start of the solar system. We're connected. 'We don't have any choice, but we know we can actively choose to understand more and that's very important for deflection, for protecting our planet.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA: 1.6% chance newly discovered asteroid will impact Earth in 2032
Feb. 15 (UPI) -- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has declared a 1.6% chance that a large asteroid would strike the Earth on Dec. 22, 2032. Scientists at NASA and the European Space Agency are among those closely watching the asteroid that measures between 130 and 300 feet in diameter and whose trajectory gives it a slight chance of impacting Earth in late 2032, the ESA reported Monday. "An asteroid this size impacts Earth on average ever few thousand years and could cause severe damage to a local region," the ESA said in a news release on Jan. 29. "As a result, the object rose to the top of the ESA's asteroid risk list," the ESA said. "Since early January, astronomers have been carrying out priority follow-up observations using telescopes around the world and using the new data to improve our understanding of the asteroid's size and trajectory." Scientists have named the asteroid "2024 YR4," which observers in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first spotted in December using advanced telescopes. The scientists who first glimpsed the asteroid in January gave it a 1.2% chance of impacting the Earth but raised the risk level to 2.3% this month, Sky News reported. NASA scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope give the asteroid a slightly lower chance of impacting Earth, CBS News reported, but the chance of impact makes it the most significant impact threat to the Earth. Astronomers are trying to reduce the uncertainty regarding the potential for an impact based on their current understanding of the asteroid's orbit. The asteroid first was sighted on Dec. 27 after triggering collision warnings and will disappear from view over the next few months until becoming visible again in 2028. The asteroid follows an elongated orbit around the Sun and currently is moving away from Earth in a nearly straight line. Scientists are hoping to rule out any chance of the asteroid impacting Earth in 2032 before it disappears from view. In September 2022, NASA successfully crashed a vending machine-sized spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos while testing ways to change its course if an Earth-threatening asteroid, such as 2024 YR4, is discovered.
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA: 1.6% chance newly discovered asteroid will impact Earth in 2032
Feb. 15 (UPI) -- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has declared a 1.6% chance that a large asteroid would strike the Earth on Dec. 22, 2032. Scientists at NASA and the European Space Agency are among those closely watching the asteroid that measures between 130 and 300 feet in diameter and whose trajectory gives it a slight chance of impacting Earth in late 2032, the ESA reported Monday. "An asteroid this size impacts Earth on average ever few thousand years and could cause severe damage to a local region," the ESA said in a news release on Jan. 29. "As a result, the object rose to the top of the ESA's asteroid risk list," the ESA said. "Since early January, astronomers have been carrying out priority follow-up observations using telescopes around the world and using the new data to improve our understanding of the asteroid's size and trajectory." Scientists have named the asteroid "2024 YR4," which observers in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first spotted in December using advanced telescopes. The scientists who first glimpsed the asteroid in January gave it a 1.2% chance of impacting the Earth but raised the risk level to 2.3% this month, Sky News reported. NASA scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope give the asteroid a slightly lower chance of impacting Earth, CBS News reported, but the chance of impact makes it the most significant impact threat to the Earth. Astronomers are trying to reduce the uncertainty regarding the potential for an impact based on their current understanding of the asteroid's orbit. The asteroid first was sighted on Dec. 27 after triggering collision warnings and will disappear from view over the next few months until becoming visible again in 2028. The asteroid follows an elongated orbit around the Sun and currently is moving away from Earth in a nearly straight line. Scientists are hoping to rule out any chance of the asteroid impacting Earth in 2032 before it disappears from view. In September 2022, NASA successfully crashed a vending machine-sized spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos while testing ways to change its course if an Earth-threatening asteroid, such as 2024 YR4, is discovered.
