NASA alert! This dangerous asteroid sped towards Earth at stunning 63144 kmph | Tech News

NASA alert! This dangerous asteroid sped towards Earth at stunning 63144 kmph

A huge asteroid zoomed past Earth today!

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Sep 28 2022, 12:02 IST
In Pics: Historic $300 mn NASA DART asteroid collision a success; 1st step to save Earth
Asteroids
1/5 DART mission is NASA’s $330 million first step to protect the planet against asteroids against potential impact. The aim of the mission was to smash a spacecraft into the Dimorphos asteroid to deflect it away from its path. This test will help scientists gain greater knowledge as to what happens when a craft is crashed against a space rock. (AP)
Asteroids
2/5 After months of anticipation, this test took place during today’s early hours when the DART spacecraft sacrificed itself by colliding with Dimorphos asteroid at 7:14 p.m. EDT. According to NASA, Dimorphos is an asteroid moonlet just 530 feet in width and orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, nearly 5 times its size. (NASA)
Asteroids
3/5 NASA DART test was captured by a small companion satellite which followed the DART spacecraft to the target asteroid Dimorphos. The spacecraft’s camera is a cubeSAT called LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids). The cubeSAT is made up of two key components, LUKE (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer) and LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging for Asteroid), both of which capture key data from the collision. (Bloomberg)
Asteroids
4/5 European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft will fly to the asteroid to survey the aftermath of impact and gather information such as the size of impact crater, the mass of the asteroid and its make-up and internal structure using its CubeSAT satellite to conduct a radar probe of the asteroid after the collision (ESA)
Asteroids
5/5 Tech behind DART spacecraft - Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO) along with Small-body Maneuvering Autonomous Real Time Navigation (SMART Nav) algorithms aboard the DART spacecraft allowed it to distinguish between the larger Didymos and its target Dimorphos, striking the asteroid with precision accuracy, according to NASA. (NASA )
Asteroids
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Worried about the asteroid which just passed Earth today? Know what NASA has to say. (Pixabay)

Asteroid flybys have been very frequent these past few months with over 35 asteroids passing by in the month of August, and September is likely to surpass this number. 5 asteroids passed by Earth very closely and astonishingly, 5 more asteroid flybys are expected today. 2 huge asteroids have already sped past the planet during the early hours today.

Asteroid 2022 ST3 sped past Earth today, Sept 28

A huge asteroid ranging anywhere between 78 feet and 174 feet just missed the Earth by a very close margin during early hours. The asteroid made its close approach with our planet at a distance of 6.8 million kilometers. The asteroid was travelling at a blistering speed of 63144 kilometers per hour! Although Asteroid 2022 SF was not expected to impact the Earth, it was still classified as a Potentially Hazardous Object due to the close proximity by which it passed Earth.

According to the-sky.org, Asteroid 2022 ST3 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids in the main asteroid belt near Jupiter. The asteroid orbits the Sun and takes 1068 days to complete one trip. During this orbit, its maximum distance from the Sun is 508 million kilometers and its nearest distance is 104 million kilometers.

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Did you Know?

How did NASA capture spacecraft hitting the asteroid? Check out the tech behind it. The historic NASA DART test was captured through cameras of a small companion satellite which was ejected from DART spacecraft and followed it, 3 minutes behind, to the target asteroid Dimorphos. The spacecraft's camera is named cubeSAT LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids). The cubeSAT is made up of two key components, LUKE (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer) and LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging for Asteroid), both of which capture key data from the collision.

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First Published Date: 28 Sep, 11:34 IST
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