This mosaic of Bennu was created using observations by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which was in close proximity to the asteroid for more than two years. NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spent two years near asteroid Bennu before it left earlier this year, and now researchers have predicted that there is a very small chance that the 500-meter-wide asteroid could collide with Earth in the future.
NASA researchers used data from this expedition to learn more about the asteroid’s orbit, allowing them to predict its future positions. Although the asteroid will approach the Earth in 2135, it will not pose a danger to us yet. However, in the distant future of the year 2300, there is a 1 in 1.1750 chance that an asteroid will hit a planet.
“The OSIRIS-REx data gives us much more precise information, we can test the limits of our models and calculate the future trajectory of Bennu with a very high degree of certainty until the year 2135,” said study leader Davide Farnocchia of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). “We’ve never modeled the trajectory of an asteroid to this precision before.”
While there’s no reason to start planning your off-world activities 300 years into the future, this is a demonstration of how asteroid tracking technology is improving. And that’s important for spotting other potentially dangerous asteroids and tracking them as they move through our solar system — so we’d have a warning if Earth were ever threatened with an impact.
“NASA’s Planetary Defense mission is to find and track asteroids and comets that may approach Earth and pose a threat to our planet,” explained Kelly Fast, program manager for the Near-Earth Object Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We carry out this endeavor through continuous astronomical research that collects data for the discovery of previously unknown objects and the improvement of our orbital models for them. The OSIRIS-REx mission provided an outstanding opportunity to refine and test these models, helping us to better predict where Bennu will be when it approaches Earth in more than a century.”
By using data from OSIRIS-REx, such as information about the size, mass and composition of the asteroid as well as its trajectory, the researchers were able to arrive at these more precise predictions of its future orbit. In addition, the spacecraft took a sample of the asteroid that it is now returning to Earth, which will provide even more information.
“Orbital data from this mission has helped us better estimate Bennu’s chances of impacting in the next few centuries and our overall understanding of potentially dangerous asteroids—an incredible result,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator and professor at the University of Arizona. . “The spacecraft is now returning home, carrying a precious sample from this fascinating ancient object that will help us better understand not only the history of the Solar System, but also the role of sunlight in changing Bennu’s orbit as we measure the asteroid’s thermal properties at an unprecedented scale in the laboratory on Earth.”
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Source: newstars.edu.vn