More than a year into a very real crisis, experts gathered virtually to confront a second emergency, a potential asteroid impact — but this disaster, fortunately, was entirely hypothetical.
Every two years, as part of the International Academy of Astronautics' Planetary Defense Conference, scientists and emergency response personnel gather to discuss a made-up asteroid threat from discovery to impact. During this year's exercise, which unfolded online from April 26 to April 28, the scenario presented an impact just six months away, a pointed reminder that limited lead time is a key weakness in our asteroid defense systems .
An asteroid traveled for 23 million years before crashing into Earth — and
A small asteroid crashed into Earth three years ago — and now scientists know where it came from. Researchers have traced the origins of the resulting rare meteorite fragments, which began the journey to Earth some 23 million years ago.
"The meteorite is named 'Motopi Pan' after a local watering hole," Mohutsiwa Gabadirwe, the senior curator of the Botswana Geoscience Institute, said in a statement , referring to the first sample they found. "This meteorite is a national treasure of Botswana."
This world-ending asteroid is the perfect vehicle for Pink Floyd - The Verge
If you'd like a visual of one way that doom could overtake Earth almost immediately, then YouTube user Anselo La Manna has just the video for you: a large asteroid impact simulation scored to nothing other than Pink Floyd .
Specifically, that's " Great Gig in the Sky ," off what might be the band's most beloved and over-analyzed album, Dark Side of the Moon . It's got everything total annihilation needs: contemplative piano, pedal steel guitar, and of course, a plaintive wail, capturing the whole range of emotions that people might feel if they were burned to a crisp because one big rock hit another.
2018 Asteroid That Hit Botswana Took 23 Million Years to Reach Earth
In the early hours of June 2, 2018, astronomers at the University of Arizona saw a faint dot of light moving across the sky.
A group of researchers raced to the end of that fireball's path to hunt for the rare fragments, since they held clues about the asteroid's origins.
By dating the elements inside the asteroid fragments, Jenniskens' team determined that the space rock had been traveling for nearly 23 million years after it broke off Vesta.
Jersey Skies: Asteroid probe heading for home - Jersey's Best
This illustration shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft departing asteroid Bennu to begin its two-year journey back to Earth. Photo courtesy of NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will soon be headed back to Earth. After a successful touch down on the asteroid Bennu 's surface on Oct. 20, 2020, the spacecraft took the collection of rock it grabbed from the surface and tucked it into a sample return capsule.
OSIRIS has been orbiting Bennu since December 2018 and performed a final flyby of the asteroid early last month. In about a week, Osiris will fire its four main engines and begin carrying its precious cargo back home.
NICK STROBEL: Getting to core issues with asteroid Psyche | Entertainment | bakersfield.com
By today or Monday, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter should have completed all of its test flights and the Perseverance rover will be moving on.
As I wrote this, the Ingenuity team was still deciding which way to send the craft on its final and longest, most complex flight. The plan was to have the final flight push the craft to its breaking point, so we would know what are the engineering boundaries of flying on Mars.
In a different part of the solar system, it looks like a large metal asteroid called Psyche might not be as metallic as we thought. Psyche is a large asteroid about the length of Massachusetts along its long axis. It orbits the sun in the outer part of the asteroid belt. An upcoming mission, also called Psyche, will launch next year and arrive at the asteroid in 2026.
Scientists Failed to Prevent a Devastating Asteroid Impact in an Alternate Reality | king5.com
NASA's simulation proves we couldn't stop an asteroid even if we tried | TweakTown
A week-long exercise led by NASA has shown that space agencies wouldn't be able to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth even if they had 6 months to prepare.
The simulation, or hypothetical scenario, posed an asteroid located 35 million miles away that was anywhere between 114 feet to half a mile in size was going to hit Earth in 6 months. Experts were tasked with developing ways to save Earth, and participating experts found that with the given timeframe, it wasn't possible to launch any type of spacecraft out to it in time to change its trajectory.
UT Researchers On What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs | The Alcalde
By Abby Carney in 40 Acres , May | June 2021 on May 3, 2021 at 10:15 am | No Comments
Gulick, a research professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences, spent over a decade sending out proposals for the mission, so when it finally commenced, and he was bunked six-to-a-cabin and sharing one bathroom with his fellow scientists for two months on a lift boat perched 15 meters above the water—much higher still above the crater they were drilling into—the intimate quarters were forgiven in lieu of the excitement of discovery. Each layer they drilled into revealed a new mystery.
Happening on Twitter
Yo guys, this week make a bag and spend it all on your mama. Trust me on this one. She deserves it. kuvie_ (from Ghana) Mon May 03 14:59:49 +0000 2021
How did you spend your week? NASA pretended to crash an asteroid into Earth. https://t.co/TrbxU4El07 https://t.co/vEJyQcSTGG SPACEdotcom (from NYC) Sat May 01 13:46:16 +0000 2021
🌳 Why you should spend a minimum of two hours per week in nature. Start your day with The Planet ☕️ #nature… https://t.co/NqDn1IJsHo Alex_Verbeek (from Ottawa, Ontario) Tue Apr 27 12:48:55 +0000 2021
Spend your day with @DanhausenAD & me! So much wrestling controversy to cover from the last week on today's Notsam… https://t.co/5yBTWnoLxl notsam (from NY) Mon Apr 26 13:57:05 +0000 2021
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