NASA Reveals Details About Aircraft-Sized Asteroid Heading Towards Earth
NASA has achieved a significant milestone with the successful completion of its OSIRIS-REx mission, which saw the spacecraft return the first-ever asteroid sample to the United States on September 24. Covering an impressive distance of nearly 7 billion kilometers, the spacecraft virtually landed on the asteroid Bennu, which poses a 1 in 2700 chance of colliding with Earth between 2175 and 2195. The mission involved collecting dust and rock samples from the asteroid’s surface, which have now been brought back to Earth. Surprisingly, scientists have discovered that the spacecraft has gathered an excessive amount of samples, leading to a delay in the completion of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSM).
Christopher Snead, deputy OSIRIS-REx curator at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said: “There is a lot of rich material outside the TAGSAM head that is interesting in its own right. It’s really amazing that all this material is there.”
In a separate development, NASA has also revealed details of an asteroid passing the planet at close range. Is there a possibility of influence? Know the details.
When will it pass Earth?
According to data released by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the asteroid named Asteroid 2023 SN6 is approaching Earth at a frightening speed and is expected to make its closest approach to the planet today, October 4.
How fast does it go?
NASA has revealed that this space rock is currently heading towards Earth at a speed of 30,564 kilometers per hour. It comes as far as 4.8 million kilometers from the planet’s surface. Although this distance may seem large, it is a relatively small number in astronomical distances considering the size of the asteroid.
How big is it?
According to NASA, the asteroid approaching the Earth is not large enough to be classified as a potentially dangerous object. Asteroid 2023 SN6 is estimated to be nearly 86 feet across, which is not large enough to be classified as a potentially hazardous object. It is almost the size of an airplane.
It belongs to the Apollo group of Near-Earth Asteroids, which are space rocks that pass through the Earth and whose semi-major axes are larger than the Earth’s axis. These asteroids are named after the huge 1862 Apollo asteroid discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s.
This is the first close approach to a planet by Asteroid 2023 SN6. After today, it is not expected to come close to Earth again, according to NASA.
