Tech2 news teamMarch 2, 2021 3:20:26 PM IS
Planetary defense experts rely on the popular asteroid Apophis to test their calculations and capabilities to prevent deadly collisions with life-threatening asteroids. Apophis is expected to pass close to Earth on March 5. Planetary defense experts and scientists are likely to use the nearby flight as an opportunity to refine the maps of its precise path and see how the asteroid’s orbit behaves relative to that of Earth. With a size of over 1000 feet, the asteroid 99942 Apophis is about the size of the Eiffel Tower.
Scientists around the world have been invited to observe Apophis to help strengthen the planet’s defense system. Vishnu Reddy, an expert in planetary defense at the University of Arizona, who coordinates the observation campaign, said Space.com that the project will be a “coalition of the eager”, after which scientists will “continue this campaign, trying to observe this object”. Upcoming campaign, listed in The site is OK, states that the closest approach to the asteroid will be at 1.06 am UTC (6.46am IST) on March 6, 2021. Although flight 2021 is not close enough to Earth, Apophis will make a closer transition in 2029, when it will be about 40,000 km from Earth.
Apophis is a large asteroid close to Earth that is expected to pass close to Earth in 2029, 2036 and again in 2068. The impact in 2029 and 2036 had already been ruled out. As of February 2021, the chances of impact during the 2068 flight of Apophis are now 1 in 3.80,000 (99.9997% of its changes are missing from Earth). Image: NASA
International Asteroid Warning Network has twice organized similar observation campaigns in the past, with the asteroids 2012 TC4 and 1999 KW4.
Apophis has been calculated as being on a possible course of collision with the Earth several times in the past. A recent study claimed that there is a very low probability (1 in 1,50,000) of a collision with the asteroid The earth in 2068. Apophis is large enough to cause major damage if such a collision has occurred, making it a suitable practice target for any actual space damage caused by rock that may come to us in the future.
Apophis’s flyby flyby in 2029. Image: NASA
Planetary defense is not without hope: if humans identify a dangerous asteroid long enough before impact, we could theoretically do something to bring it down, according to a Space.com report. Successful prevention of damage caused by the impact of an asteroid will depend on identifying the threat over time, which requires practice.
Asteroids, as they make their way into the universe, can launch to planet Earth at dangerous speeds. Above a certain size and threshold speed, these deadly asteroids can cause massive damage to the Earth’s ecosystem, not unlike the famous asteroid because it started a snowdrop effect that ended with the disappearance of over 70 percent of life on Earth, including dinosaurs. This has worried many scientists about the implications, but also about the solutions to defend the planet against such incidents.
Although, in most cases, space rocks are too small to cause damage or fly without a collision, scientists agree that it is necessary to monitor any large asteroid that may prove dangerous.
Read also: JF1, Apophis to graze the Earth in the 2020s; planetary defense courtesy of NASA, ESA still ongoing
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