NASA probe to observe asteroid as wide as Empire State Building near earth encounter

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NASA has a probe that will observe a near-Earth asteroid that is about as wide as the Empire State Building in 2029: 

  • Asteroid width: The asteroid is about one-third of a mile (half a kilometer) wide, which is roughly the height of the Empire State Building. 
  • NASA probe: The NASA probe will fly by Earth. 
  • NASA mission: The NASA mission is called OSIRIS-REx. 

NASA also has other missions related to asteroids, including: 

  • NEAR Shoemaker: This mission was the first to orbit and land on an asteroid. 
  • Asteroid Watch: This mission monitors asteroids and says there is no known significant threat of impact for the next hundred years or more.

NASA uses a variety of methods to spot near-Earth asteroids: 

  • Telescopes Asteroids reflect sunlight, so telescopes can be used to see them from Earth. 
  • Image differencing Software compares recent images of the same part of the sky to detect objects that have moved, brightened, or appeared. 
  • Albedo NASA measures the amount of light reflected by the asteroid back into space, a quality called the albedo. 
  • Databases Computers automatically check moving specs against a database of known objects. If there’s no match, it gets added to a list of objects to confirm. 

Most asteroids are discovered by a camera on a telescope with a wide field of view. The first asteroid discoveries were serendipitous, with early 19th century astronomers occasionally finding them while visually looking for other phenomena

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was NASA’s first Discovery mission. It was the first mission to orbit and study an asteroid, and the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. The mission was also the first to make comprehensive scientific measurements of an asteroid’s surface composition, geology, physical properties, and internal structure. 

The NEAR mission was designed to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year. The mission’s primary scientific objective was to return data on the bulk properties, composition, mineralogy, morphology, internal mass distribution, and magnetic field of Eros. 

The NEAR mission was renamed NEAR Shoemaker in honor of planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, who died in an automobile accident in 1997. The mission’s primary goal was to rendezvous with the minor planet 433 Eros, approximately 221 million miles (355 million kilometers) from Earth

The NASA Near-Earth Object Program (NEO) coordinates efforts to detect, track, and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that could approach Earth. The NEO Observations Program has discovered more than 98% of the more than 30,000 NEOs currently known. 

The Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) space telescope is designed to help advance NASA’s planetary defense efforts. The PDCO was established in January 2016 at NASA HQ to coordinate planetary defense related activities across NASA. 

The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) center for computing asteroid and comet orbits and their probability of Earth impact.

Here are some near-Earth asteroid search programs: 

  • Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) A collaborative project with the United States Air Force that ran from 1995 to 2007. 
  • Near-Earth Object Program Coordinates NASA-sponsored efforts to detect, track, and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and comets. 
  • Near-Earth Observations (NEO) Program Includes:
  • NEO Search Program Has found more than 90% of the Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) larger than one kilometer. 

NASA also has the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which manages the agency’s mission of finding, tracking, and better understanding asteroids and comets that could pose an impact hazard to Earth. 

NASA-funded observatories collect the vast majority of asteroid-tracking data. These include: 

  • Pan-STARRS 
  • The Catalina Sky Survey 
  • NASA’s NEOWISE mission 
  • NEO Surveyor 

The Torino Scale is a tool used to assess the potential impact hazard of near-Earth objects (NEOs)

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