NASA Warns of Asteroid Approaching Earth

A NASA artist's concept of a broken-up asteroid. (Reuters)
A NASA artist's concept of a broken-up asteroid. (Reuters)
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NASA Warns of Asteroid Approaching Earth

A NASA artist's concept of a broken-up asteroid. (Reuters)
A NASA artist's concept of a broken-up asteroid. (Reuters)

An asteroid dubbed "potentially hazardous" by space agency NASA will come incredibly close to Earth next week, NASA's asteroid trackers have confirmed.

"Potentially hazardous asteroids are about 150 meters (almost 500ft), roughly twice as big as the Statue of Liberty is tall. Potentially hazardous comets also get unusually close to Earth," NASA said.

According to The Daily Express, knowing the size, shape, mass, composition and structure of these objects helps determine the best way to divert one, should it have an Earth-threatening path.

Asteroids and comets rarely strike Earth but the gravitational effects of other bodies in the solar system could nudge them on Earth-bound trajectories.

NASA said "this allows the possibility of a future collision" even if an initial flyby is harmless.

On January 10, Asteroid 2019 UO will approach the planet at breakneck speeds of around 9.40km per second or 21,027mph, announced NASA.

NASA also estimates the rock measures somewhere in the range of 820ft to 1,804ft (250m to 550m) in diameter. At the upper end of NASA's scale, the asteroid is comparable in height to Moscow's Ostankino Tower. At the lower end of the scale, the asteroid is about as tall as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, US.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), there are currently 21,702 known NEAs or Near-Earth Objects - space rocks that sometimes cross Earth's orbit. On top of the extensive list, ESA lists another 997 asteroids that could pose a "risk" to Earth's safety.

Thankfully, NASA does not expect Asteroid OU to come close enough next Friday to strike the planet.

At its closest, the asteroid will approach Earth from a distance of about 0.03021 astronomical units. A single astronomical unit is the average distance from our planet to the Sun or about 93 million miles (149.6 million km).



SpaceX's Starship to Deploy Mock Satellites in Next Test

SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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SpaceX's Starship to Deploy Mock Satellites in Next Test

SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Elon Musk's SpaceX said upcoming Starship test flight would include the rocket's first attempt to deploy payloads in space by releasing 10 model Starlink satellites, a key demonstration for Starship's potential in the satellite launch market.

"While in space, Starship will deploy 10 Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites as the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission," SpaceX said in a blog post on its website, Reuters reported.

The Starship flight from SpaceX's sprawling Boca Chica, Texas facilities, tentatively planned for later this month, will mark the seventh demonstration in a test-to-failure style of rocket development where the company tests new upgrades with each flight.

In October, Starship's "Super Heavy" first stage booster returned to its launch pad's giant mechanical arms for the first time, a milestone for its fully reusable design.

The rocket's sixth test flight in November, attended by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, achieved similar mission objectives - besides the landing of Super Heavy, which was forced to target a water landing on the Gulf of Mexico because of a launchpad problem.

Starship is the centerpiece of SpaceX's future satellite launch business - an area it currently dominates with its partially reusable Falcon 9 - as well as Musk's dreams to colonize Mars.

The rocket's power, stronger than the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon in the last century, is key for launching huge batches of satellites into low-Earth orbit and is expected to rapidly expand the company's Starlink satellite internet network.

SpaceX is under contract with NASA to land U.S. astronauts on the moon later this decade using Starship.

Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, has become a close ally of Trump who has made getting to Mars a more prominent goal for the incoming administration.