Asteroid will pass close to Earth

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

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

An asteroid is considered “potentially dangerous” by the 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 magnitude more than 459 feet in diameter is.

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

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

What would happen if …?

“Currently, the impact of an asteroid is the only natural disaster we can prevent. There are some methods NASA is studying to guide 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 “gravity tractor,” a spacecraft that would approach the asteroid to guide its path and use the force of gravity between the two bodies to deflect it.

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

According to NASA, the “simplest and most technologically mature solution for asteroid defense” is currently a kinetic impact. This technique would launch a plane to hit an asteroid at high speed and change its trajectory. In fact, this option will be evaluated with the 2022 DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) in which a spacecraft the size of a car collides at 25,000 kilometers per hour with Didymos B, the smallest of the Didymos asteroid duo – which they pose no risk to the earth – to see how much its course changes.