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[webfact]

NASA deep space probe reaches asteroid deemed potential Earth threat

By Joey Roulette

 

NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is seen on display at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, U.S. August 20, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Brown/Files

 

(Reuters) - NASA's deep space explorer Osiris-Rex flew on Monday to within a dozen miles of its destination, a skyscraper-sized asteroid believed to hold organic compounds fundamental to life as well as the potential to collide with Earth in about 150 years. 

 

Launched in September 2016, Osiris-Rex embarked on NASA's unprecedented seven-year mission to conduct a close-up survey of the asteroid Bennu, collect a sample from its surface and return that material to Earth for study.

 

Bennu, a rocky mass roughly a third of a mile wide and shaped like a giant acorn, orbits the sun at roughly the same distance as Earth and is thought to be rich in carbon-based organic molecules dating back to the earliest days of the solar system. Water, another vital component to the evolution of life, may also be trapped in the asteroid's minerals.

 

Scientists believe that asteroids and comets crashing into early Earth delivered organic compounds and water that seeded the planet for life, and atomic-level analysis of samples from Bennu could help prove that theory.

 

But there is another, more existential reason to study Bennu.

 

Scientists estimate there is a one-in-2,700 chance of the asteroid slamming catastrophically into Earth 166 years from now. That probability ranks Bennu No. 2 on NASA's catalog of 72 near-Earth objects potentially capable of hitting the planet.

 

Osiris-Rex will help scientists understand how heat radiated from the sun is gently steering Bennu on an increasingly menacing course through the solar system. That solar energy is believed to be nudging the asteroid ever closer toward Earth's path each time the asteroid makes its closest approach to our planet every six years.

 

"By the time we collect the sample in 2020 we will have a much better idea of the probability that Bennu would impact Earth in the next 150 years," mission spokeswoman Erin Morton said.

 

Scientists have estimated that in 2135 Bennu could pass closer to Earth than the moon, which orbits at a distance of about 250,000 miles, and possibly come closer still some time between 2175 and 2195.

 

Osiris-Rex reached the "preliminary survey" phase of its mission on Monday, soaring to within 12 miles of the asteroid. The spacecraft will pass just 1.2 miles from Bennu in late December, where it will enter the object's gravitational pull.

 

From that stage, the spacecraft will begin gradually tightening its orbit around the asteroid, spiraling to within just 6 feet of its surface. Osiris-Rex will then extend its robot arm to snatch a sample of Bennu's terrain in a "touch-and-go" maneuver set for July 2020.

 

Osiris-Rex will later fly back to Earth, jettisoning a capsule bearing the asteroid specimen for a parachute descent in the Utah desert in September 2023.

 

NASA is developing a strategy for deflecting Bennu, or any other asteroid found to be on a collision course with Earth, by use of a special spacecraft to slam into the object hard enough to nudge it onto a safer path, said Lindley Johnson, a planetary defense officer with NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

 

"But this is all dependent on the outcome of a very close approach that Bennu has with Earth in September 2135," Johnson said. "We’ll just need to wait and see. Rather, our great-great-grandchildren will need to see."

 

(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Orlando, Fla.; Editing by Steve Gorman and Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-04

[blazes]

Well, that should solve the global warming problem....

[digger70]

Why worry about it now . If it get close enough than the can Nuke it it's not that big, even if it hit the deck nothing much will happen .the earth has been hit before and survived

[connda]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Launched in September 2016, Osiris-Rex embarked on NASA's unprecedented seven-year mission to conduct a close-up survey of the asteroid Bennu, collect a sample from its surface and return that material to Earth for study.

Drop on asteroid and nudges it from near-collision to direct hit.  Cool!

[Catoni]

1 hour ago, digger70 said:

Why worry about it now . If it get close enough than the can Nuke it it's not that big, even if it hit the deck nothing much will happen .the earth has been hit before and survived

At that size, and at impact speed, it would have perhaps enough energy release to wipe out an area the size of the state of Maine. 

    Or if it hit in the Atlantic or Pacific...tsunami destruction to all shores in the path of the waves from the impact site.

     The “nuke the asteroid” idea has pretty well been abandoned by the space industry...for various reasons. (One being you could end up with a shotgun effect hitting the planet instead of just one projectile.) 

     Hollywood will produce the movie. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Catoni
Addition

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, Catoni said:

At that size, and at impact speed, it would have perhaps enough energy release to wipe out an area the size of the state of Maine. 

    Or if it hit in the Atlantic or Pacific...tsunami destruction to all shores in the path of the waves from the impact site.

     Hollywood will produce the movie. 

They've already produced the series.... its called Salvation

[Justgrazing]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

That probability ranks Bennu No. 2 on NASA's catalog of 72 near-Earth objects potentially capable of hitting the planet.

And if 1997 X11 asteroid gives us a hearty pulversing in 10 yrs time Bennu might never get that coveted No1 spot .. 

 

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Osiris-Rex will help scientists understand how heat radiated from the sun is gently steering Bennu on an increasingly menacing course 

Sounds like the steering's pulling .. probably needs a full geometry check .. 

 

16 hours ago, webfact said:

From that stage, the spacecraft will begin gradually tightening its orbit around the asteroid, spiraling to within just 6 feet of its surface. Osiris-Rex will then extend its robot arm to snatch a sample of Bennu's terrain in a "touch-and-go" maneuver set for July 2020.

Bit like picking up a dropped tenner off the pavement then .. Only a lot faster .. 

 

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Scientists estimate there is a one-in-2,700 chance of the asteroid slamming catastrophically into Earth 166 years from now.

That should sort out Beach road's flooding once 'n for all .. 

 

16 hours ago, webfact said:

But this is all dependent on the outcome of a very close approach that Bennu has with Earth in September 2135," Johnson said. "We’ll just need to wait and see.

But it might be worth adopting the brace position and kissing you're A** goodbye he concluded with .. 

[Cryingdick]

9 hours ago, Catoni said:

At that size, and at impact speed, it would have perhaps enough energy release to wipe out an area the size of the state of Maine. 

    Or if it hit in the Atlantic or Pacific...tsunami destruction to all shores in the path of the waves from the impact site.

     The “nuke the asteroid” idea has pretty well been abandoned by the space industry...for various reasons. (One being you could end up with a shotgun effect hitting the planet instead of just one projectile.) 

     Hollywood will produce the movie. 

 

Well sounds like they have around 150 years to figure it out. 

[Krataiboy]

E

8 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Well sounds like they have around 150 years to figure it out. 

The way things are going, we'll still be trying to figure out a Brexit deal when it arrives.

[PatOngo]

Thankfully the probe didn't collide with Planet Thailand on the way past.