The asteroid will pass close to Earth

An asteroid, classified by NASA as “potentially dangerous” due to its size and trajectory, will approach Earth on March 21. It is a space rock called 231937 (2001 FO32), whose diameter is between 0.8 and 1.7 kilometers.

Although it will be the fastest and closest asteroid to our planet in all of 2021, its position will maintain a reasonable distance at its closest point to Earth’s orbit: 2 million kilometers.

An asteroid is considered “potentially dangerous” by CNEOS (Center for the Study of Near Earth Objects) when its orbit approaches that of Earth at a distance of less than 7.5 million kilometers, and its size is more than 459 meters in diameter.

This “space visitor” was discovered by the LINEAR (Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research) telescopes located in New Mexico, in the United States. Since then, observatories have been monitoring him. It is known to travel at a striking speed of 124,000 kilometers per hour.

According to NASA, there is no asteroid that poses a real risk to our planet in the next 100 years. The most alarming is called 410777 (2009 FD) and has less than a 0.2% chance of hitting Earth in 2185, although the monitoring system for potentially dangerous objects (Sentry) is being updated as new rocks are discovered.

What if …?

“Currently, the impact of an asteroid is the only natural disaster we could prevent. There are several methods that NASA is studying to divert an asteroid from its impact course to Earth, “the US space agency explains on its website.

One of these techniques would be to use a “gravitational tractor”, a spacecraft that would approach the asteroid to accompany its path and use the gravitational pull between the two bodies to deflect it.

Another option that is evaluated when faced with a hypothetical risk is controlled nuclear detonation, positioned near the surface of the asteroid, although this variable is considered a last resort.

According to NASA, “the simplest and most mature technological solution for asteroid defense” is currently a kinetic impact. With this technique, an aircraft would be launched to hit a high-speed asteroid and change its orbit. In fact, this option will be evaluated with the 2022 DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, in which a spacecraft the size of a car will collide at 25,000 kilometers per hour against Didymos B, the smallest of the asteroid duo. Didymos – who did not pose a risk to Earth – to see how much its course is changing.