Buzzed by an asteroid: With new advances in detection and tracking so-called Near Earth Objects, scientists hope to one day protect the Earth from asteroid threats.
Earth experienced a near miss on Sunday night as an asteroid passed near our planet. While the object posed no threat, it did get close, dodging us by only 310,000 miles. By comparison, the moon orbits about 240,000 miles from Earth.
Astronomers spotted this the Near Earth Object (NEO) thanks to an experimental “intruder alert” NASA program to detect and track potentially harmful space rocks passing close to our planet. The asteroid is one of many recent discoveries of NEOs as NASA and other international programs continue to refine techniques for discovering these potential threats from space.
In recent years, scientists have become increasingly concerned with the question of protecting Earth from potential collisions. For most of its history, humanity has relied on statistical unlikelihood to avoid catastrophic NEO impacts. But between advances in NEO detection and a proposed mission to test asteroid redirection, scientists hope to one day create a create a future in which concerns about asteroid collisions are a thing of the past.
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What is SMOD going to do?
I don’t get it either. What would be the point?
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