NASA’s Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) is an infrared sensor intended to enhance detection and tracking of asteroids and comets. In April, scientists and engineers simulated the temperatures and pressure of deep space, to assess operation and performance of the sensor. NEOCam, an output of 10 years of joint efforts of between Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), University of Rochester, and Teledyne [...]
Post Tagged with: “near Earth asteroid”
Record Setting Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Safely Pass Earth
On February 15, Asteroid 2012 DA14 will make the closest approach of any similarly sized object ever recorded that has not collided with the planet. The 50 m diameter asteroid will pass within geosynchronous orbit at an altitude of about 27,600 km. The asteroid’s trajectory is well mapped and it has no potential to impact Earth and little potential to [...]
Asteroids Swoop Past Earth
On the morning of December 11, asteroid 2012 XE54 – discovered just two days prior – passed within 230,000 km of Earth. The 36 m long asteroid passed well within the Moon’s orbit, experiencing an unusual surface eclipse as it passed through Earth’s shadow. 2012 XE54 highlights the need for improved cataloguing of potentially hazardous asteroids. Tuesday’s passage was quite [...]
B612 Foundation Contracts Ball Aerospace for Sentinel Sensors
The following press release was published by the B612 Foundation on October 30: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and the non-profit B612 Foundation have signed a contract for Ball to create prototype infrared imaging sensors for the Sentinel Mission, a deep space mission to protect Earth by providing early warning of threatening asteroids. Ball’s detector design characterization initiates the first [...]
Paintballs Win Move an Asteroid Competition
While there have been many proposals for preventing asteroid collisions with Earth, ranging from nuclear detonations to gravity tractors, paintballs have never been in the picture. Until now. On October 26, Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student Sung Wook Paek won the United Nations Space Generation Advisory Council’s 2012 Move an Asteroid Technical Paper Competition with the suggestion that pellets [...]
The Increasing Rate of Asteroid Discovery
As we continue to discover new asteroids, we become more aware of the potential threat they pose to Earth. Amateur skywatchers can now easily monitor near Earth asteroids, which seem to make their closest approaches at more frequent intervals all the time. Below, astronomer turned entrepreneur Scott Manley demonstrates the rate of discovery of these bodies from 1980 to today. Manley points [...]
Taking Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) Seriously—And Developing Diversion Techniques
This is the third and final article in the series “Taking Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) Seriously” by Joseph N. Pelton, President, International Space Safety Foundation and Chair, IAASS Academic Committee. It is not enough for the public to be aware of the threat of near-earth asteroids and to develop the tools to track potentially “killer NEOs” so that we can [...]
Taking Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) Seriously—Clarifying Nearer Term Risk
This article is the second in the series “Taking Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) Seriously” by Joseph N. Pelton, President, International Space Safety Foundation and Chair, IAASS Academic Committee. The prime instrument we now have to assess the threat of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids is called the Wide-Field Infra-Red Survey Explorer (WISE). The good news from NASA is that the latest survey [...]
Earth Safe from Asteroid 2012 LZ1 for 750 Years
Asteroid 2012 LZ1 was discovered on June 10, 2012 and classified as potentially hazardous since its orbit comes within the prescribed 20 lunar distances of Earth. New observations from the Arecibo observatory have found that, although the asteroid is twice as large as originally thought, it is not likely to pose a collision hazard within the next 750 years. “This [...]
Asteroid 2011 AG5 Probably Won’t Hit Earth Says NASA
Asteroid 2011 AG5 was discovered in January 2011 and was considered to be at risk for collision with Earth in 2040. Scientists now consider that eventuality to be unlikely to occur. “While there is general consensus there is only a very small chance that we could be dealing with a real impact scenario for this object, we will still be watchful [...]
