On Oct. 12, 2017, asteroid 2012 TC4 will safely fly past Earth at an estimated distance of 6,800 km (4,200 mi). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Posted on 08/01/2017 4:18:27 PM PDT by BenLurkin
This coming October, an asteroid will fly by Earth. Known as 2012 TC4, this small rock is believed to measure between 10 and 30 meters (30 and 100 feet) in size. As with most asteroids, this one is expected to sail safely past Earth without incident. This will take place on October 12th, when the asteroid will pass us at a closest estimated distance of 6,800 kilometers (4,200 miles) from Earth’s surface.
That’s certainly good news. But beyond the fact that it does not pose a threat to Earth, NASA is also planning on using the occasion to test their new detection and tracking network. As part of their Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), this network is responsible for detecting and tracking asteroids that periodically pass close to Earth, which are known as Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs)
In addition to relying on data provided by NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Observations Program. the PDCO also coordinates NEO observations conducted by National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored ground-based observatories, as well as space situational awareness facilities run by the US Air Force. Aside from finding and tracking PHOs, the PDCO is also responsible for coming up with ways of deflecting and redirecting them.
The PDCO was officially created in response to the NASA Office of Inspector General’s 2014 report, titled “NASA’s Efforts to Identify Near-Earth Objects and Mitigate Hazards.” Citing such events as the Chelyabinsk meteor, and how such events are relatively common, the report indicated that coordination, early warning and mitigation strategies were
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
On Oct. 12, 2017, asteroid 2012 TC4 will safely fly past Earth at an estimated distance of 6,800 km (4,200 mi). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Is this another thing we do, save the world from asteroids, that we don’t get any credit for? Germany - doesn’t fund NATO, sucks up to Russian oil and natural gas, building dozens of coal plants, doesn’t save the planet from asteroids. But criticizes us for not forking over the climate change money to the U.N.
The physics package contained within the B83 has been studied for use in asteroid impact avoidance strategies against any seriously threatening near earth asteroids. Six such warheads, configured for the maximum 1.2 Mt yield, would be deployed by maneuvering space vehicles to "knock" an asteroid off course, should it pose a risk to the Earth.
NASA ain't saving nobody...it is a detection and monitoring system. They are just going to tell us where a strike would hurt the most and tell those people to get religion or get outta Dodge..
I am thinking that if it is of a size that we can impact its tragectory AT ALL with todays technology, its gonna be small enough to burn up in the atmospjere. (?)
This one is around 30 meters across. How big does one have to be to make it thru to even impact earth, let alone do damage?
Events that will change life as we know it from major volcanic eruptions, EMP of grid, asteroid collisions, terrorist and country attacks etc that will make us a worthless landscape all need to be defended against.....and a lot more than claims Iraq and Syria will destroy us touted by crooked neocons. But that is just me saying that...and not corrupt pols.
It’s not necessarily the size of an asteroid that determines whether it will survive entering the atmosphere, but the composition of it. In other words there are small ones that survive and comparatively larger ones that don’t. But, a mile wide one for instance is going to be a big problem no matter what it’s composition might be.
Detection and monitoring - correct. Let’s see if we can detect the planet killers in real time, in time to deflect or otherwise defend against them. The second part will come along. Whether or not anybody thanks us, we will save the planet. Just, not tomorrow.
Can't argue with that. Remember how they laughed at President Reagan when he proposed a missile defense system?
I just hope that NASA has been refocused from orbiting the first muslim astronaut. How would he ever know where to face when praying? There is no east in space.
Can't argue with that. Remember how they laughed at President Reagan when he proposed a missile defense system?
I just hope that NASA has been refocused from orbiting the first muslim astronaut. How would he ever know where to face when praying? There is no east in space.
This is exactly what NASA should be doing as opposed to muslim outreach.
Let’s see: about 21 days after the Harpazo, and 11 days after the Two Witnesses show up. What could possibly go wrong?
This one is probably larger than the one that broke up over Chelyabinsk, Russia a few years ago, and a bit smaller than the one that made the crater in Arizona (stated to be 50 meters in diameter).
So it’s prbably about the size that could make a large blast near the surface and possibly a crater, the Chelyabinsk event broke up and did damage mainly through shock waves that broke windows in the region.
If this one veers off course and hits the earth, it would probably do significant damage if it hit a populated area, and make a dramatic explosion with possible shock waves or tsunamis if over open country or the ocean.
I am guessing 20-25 meters is about the lower end of what might really concern us here on earth. Not very big, and not observable from earth until very close to impact.
To give some sense of the scale, I think the Gulf of Mexico dinosaur extinction event involved a 5-10 km wide asteroid. Anything much bigger than 25 km might be a planetary extinction event, but we know where almost all of those bad boys are already, and they are not in earth-crossing orbits.
The asteroid Eros stays between Earth and Mars almost all of its orbital life, never crosses our orbit, and is about 20 km long. But there are few others that big anywhere near the earth. Big asteroids in the main belt range from 100 to 1,000 km; those are mainly in stable orbits beyond Mars.
Stuff hit’s the Earth’s atmosphere all day. Most of it burns up and we down here don’t even notice it. Now and then something big flies by and keeps on going. We’re lucky in that the planet Jupiter acts as a kind of a cosmic shortstop pulling in stuff that would other wise come slamming into us. Like Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994. Had that bad boy hit us it would have been game over, done, finished. We do get lucky most of the time but fact is we’re going to get nailed someday, big time. Not a question of ‘’if’’ but ‘’when’’. It will happen .
McCain has already voted to allocate funds to redirect it into Moscow. :)
I hope those NASA engineers know how to play pool! ;-)
“Scotty! Quick! Put her in reverse!”
North Korea didnt have a successful missile launch until we landed that thing. I want to believe that we shot them down seconds after launch.
I’m excited about this. If they’ve miscalculated, it could get me out of a number of commitments I wish I hadn’t made.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.