While NASA’s asteroid-capturing mission remains grounded from a lack of Congressional funding, a similar and equally ambitious ESA program is nearing fruition. In the coming months, the Rosetta spacecraft and its integrated Philae probe will become the first manmade objects to not only orbit an asteroid but land on it as well. Here’s how they’ll do it.
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It’s not quite Armageddon but NASA revealed a concept video animation detailing how NASA would find, capture, re-direct and study a near-Earth asteroid. In the animation by NASA, you can see a crew of astronauts taking off on the Orion spacecraft and using the Moon to swing onto the captured asteroid.
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For nearly three years, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite was one of our most potent tools in the search for asteroids, discovering 33,500 of them (more than a dozen of which are potential impact threats) before being placed into hibernation in 2011. But with a new-found interest in asteroid mining
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Common sense would suggest that humans would want to do everything possible to discourage the asteroids hurdling through solar system from heading towards Earth. But in the too-futuristic era of space rock mining that’s just not the case anymore.
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In case you didn’t have enough to worry about, NASA says there are over 1,400 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) orbiting our sun. If it makes you feel any better, this visualization of their orbits is kinda pretty. The beauty of impending destruction.
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Because Bill Nye explains the world better than even experiencing it yourself, here’s our childhood maestro of science explaining how we could possibly stop an asteroid from destroying Earth. Giant bombs, huge rockets and even freaking lasers probably can’t stop it. And even if they could stop it, we might not be able to build them. So, uh, yeah.
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Ever since joining Google+ early last year, The White House has become more and more involved with the social network. And with word spreading amongst Earthlings about an asteroid (with its own moon, no less) zipping past the planet sometime around 5:00PM ET, the executive mansion of the US couldn’t have chosen a better day to discuss the topic. As part of its ongoing “We the Geeks” series on Google+, The White House will be hosting a Hangout today where it plans to talk about asteroid characterization, identification, resource utilization and more. As you’d expect, there will be a some knowledgeable people present to spark the conversation, including NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, former astronaut Ed Lu and, of course, Bill Nye. So, if you plan to fly swing by later, be sure to set a reminder for 2:00PM ET, as that’s when the Hangout is expected to begin.
Filed under: Science, Internet
Source: The White House
That Pet Rock of yours lose a bit of its luster over the years? Not to worry, NASA plans to put one big enough for the whole world to share in orbit around the moon by the start of the next decade. Here’s how. More »
Considering a 10-ton meteorite crashed into Russia this past February, we think it’s about time NASA starts studying asteroids to help keep us informed about their potential risks. NASA is announcing that exact project will be happening by the end of the decade as they plan on capturing a small asteroid and wrangling it back to Earth’s vicinity in order to stage manned visits to learn more about asteroids.
The mission’s overview is based on NASA’s long-range goals of advancing technology development, providing opportunities for International cooperation and helping scientists better learn how to protect the Earth if a large asteroid was ever found to be headed our way. The program will also help NASA develop the navigation and execution of deep space operations, which will be needed for eventual manned flights to Mars.
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