WASHINGTON - Japanese scientists have announced that a 1,124-pound (510-kilogram) space probe will “collide” with our home planet in June 2010 to simulate an approaching asteroid.
According to a report in National Geographic News, the Hayabusa spacecraft is currently on its way back to Earth after a successful mission that landed on and hopefully collected samples from the asteroid Itokawa.
Potential samples will be aboard a heat-resistant capsule that will separate from Hayabusa shortly before re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere so they can be recovered.
But, experts say the main body of the craft will most likely disintegrate during the trip through Earth’s atmosphere.
Although the plan was not part of Hayabusa’s original mission, scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently decided to make the most of the doomed probe’s return.
“Even though Hayabusa is not actually an asteroid, it will be on a path that will cause it to collide with the Earth in the same way as an asteroid,” said JAXA spokesperson Akinori Hashimoto.
“We will monitor its movements, and the data will enable us to accurately predict the future paths of asteroids that are on course to come close to the Earth,” he added.
While other space agencies have programs for tracking asteroids that might hit Earth, JAXA doesn’t yet have the ability to monitor these so-called near-Earth asteroids.
So, a team of researchers headed by Makoto Yoshikawa has developed a prototype system to calculate the trajectory, time, speed, and likelihood of an asteroid impact.
Hayabusa’s return to Earth will be easy to track because they will have months of advance warning and plenty of information on the craft’s exact size and flight path.
The event therefore provides the team with a chance to fine-tune their asteroid-tracking calculations.
“It is very important that we develop accurate ways to predict where asteroids are going to strike, because even small ones can cause a great deal of damage,” Hashimoto said.
The Japanese agency will get international help tracking Hayabusa’s re-entry, noted Donald K. Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program based in Pasadena, California.
“The entrance of the Hayabusa spacecraft into the Earth’s atmosphere will be tracked before entry by ground-based optical telescopes in an effort to verify the software that has recently been developed by JAXA,” he said.
In addition, ground-based telescopes around the world will watch for the sample-return capsule to help ensure its safe recovery. (ANI)
Related News
Asteroid to miss Earth in 2036, but could be on collision course in 2068October 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - There is some good news and some bad news for doomsday pundits, in the sense that the chances of asteroid Apophis colliding with Earth in 2036 has been recuded, but a new impact possibility of the same asteroid has come up in the year 2068. University of Hawaii asteroid hunter Dr.
NASA downgrades threat of 885-foot asteroid striking Earth in 2036October 7th, 2009 NASA downgrades threat of large asteroidLOS ANGELES — Earth can breathe a sigh of relief. NASA on Wednesday downgraded the odds of an 885-foot asteroid striking the planet in 2036.
Scientists find meteorite that came from innermost asteroid belt between Mars and JupiterSeptember 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a very rare finding, scientists have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered that it came from the innermost main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Meteorites are the only surviving physical record of the formation of our Solar System.
Scientists design "gravity tractor" to save earth from asteroidsAugust 30th, 2009 LONDON - British space scientists have designed a special spacecraft that can save the earth from a catastrophic asteroid collision. The 10 tonne spacecraft named "gravity tractor" would be deployed to intercept an asteroid en route to the earth and has the ability to fly 160 ft alongside it.
Asteroid visits could prepare astronauts for Mars landingAugust 12th, 2009 LONDON - A committee appointed by the White House to review NASA's aims has put forward the idea to send astronauts on progressively longer space trips to asteroids, in order to prepare them for a landing on Mars. According to a report in New Scientist, committee member Edward Crawley of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said that the first mission would fly by the moon.
NASA to provide web updates on objects approaching EarthJuly 31st, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is introducing a new Web site that will provide a centralized resource for information on near-Earth objects - those asteroids and comets that can approach Earth. The "Asteroid Watch" site also contains links for the interested public to sign up for NASA's new asteroid widget and Twitter account.
Asteroid-sized balls of magma may have formed Earth and its rocky siblingsJuly 21st, 2009 LONDON - A new research says that asteroid-sized balls of magma hurtled through our infant solar system, and spray from their many collisions provided much of the raw material that formed Earth and its rocky siblings. According to a report in New Scientist, this is according to a new take on an old theory that challenges the notion that the solar system started out as a placid sea of dust motes which simply clumped together to form planets.
New theory says asteroid belt is contaminated with icy invaders from beyond Neptune and PlutoJuly 15th, 2009 Space invaders: Asteroid belt has rocks from afarWASHINGTON — A new astronomy theory says the solar system's main asteroid belt is littered with icy invaders from far away. The so-called invaders are asteroids that seem more like primitive frozen comets than the baked rocks that make up the overwhelming majority of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.
Broken dwarf planet may have scarred the Moon in early solar systemJune 11th, 2009 London, June 11 (ANI: A new analysis of craters of the Moon has suggested that the shattered remnants of a dwarf planet may have bombarded the inner planets in the early solar system. According to a report in New Scientist, several large impact scars on the moon appear to be around 3.9 billion years old, suggesting that the Earth and other objects of the inner solar system were heavily pounded at that time.
Jupiter's gravity could trigger chain reaction of planetary collisions one dayJune 11th, 2009 Sydney, June 11 (ANI: In a grim scenario put forward by scientists, the gravity of Jupiter could one day pull Mercury off course, triggering a chain reaction of collisions in the Solar System. But despite the threat, there's only a 1 percent chance of this happening in the next 5 billion years, said French researchers.
Aerospace engineer thinks up way of deflecting asteroidsApril 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - David French may be the guy who saves the world from an asteroid when it comes hurtling down from space. French, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU), has thought up a way to divert asteroids and other threatening objects from hitting the earth.
An effective way to deflect an Earth-threatening asteroidApril 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A scientist in the US has found an effective way to deflect an Earth-threatening asteroid, by attaching a long tether and ballast to the incoming object. The theory has been put forward by David French, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering at North Carolina (NC) State University, US.
"Noise" from space may help reveal mass of near-Earth asteroidsApril 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Planetary scientists are all set to turn "noise" from the data obtained by NASA/ESA LISA satellites' mission into useful information about the mass of near-Earth asteroids. LISA is on a mission to detect gravitational waves - a warping of the space/time continuum that scientists hope to see directly for the first time.
Scientists track asteroid from space to ground impactMarch 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have identified a tiny asteroid before it hit the earth, helping computers pinpoint its origins and predict the arrival of its shattered parts. The four-metre-diameter asteroid, called 2008 TC3, was initially sighted by the automated Catalina Sky Survey telescope at Mount Lemmon, Arizona, on Oct 6 last year.
Huge asteroid flies past EarthMarch 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An asteroid as big as a 10-storeyed building flew past Earth Tuesday, the US space website has said. The space rock was perhaps a bit larger than one thought to have created a colossal explosion in the air above Siberia in 1908 that flattened 500,000 acres (2,000 square km) of forest.
Loading ...