Categories: Asteroids

Satellite Beacon Mission Suggested for Asteroid Apophis

[/caption]

According to a Russian news story, a report just released by the Russian Academy of Sciences suggests sending a satellite with a radio beacon to asteroid 99942 Apophis for better determining its trajectory and finding out how big of a threat it might be to Earth in passes the asteroid will make in 2036 and 2068.

“From the technical point of view, the mission could be started for implementation from 2015,” the Academy said in the report.

Apophis is expected to make a record-setting — but harmless — close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029 when it comes no closer than 29,450 km from Earth (18,300 miles), well within the orbits of geostationary satellites. Astronomers have ruled out any possibility of an impact in 2029, but that close pass could alter its trajectory for subsequent close passes. Right now, astronomers estimate the probability of Apophis impacting Earth on its following pass in 2036 is about 1 in 250,000. Another encounter by the asteroid with Earth in 2068 currently has a chance of impact at approximately 1 in 333,000, as of the estimates released in October of 2009.

Like all preliminary estimates, NASA says it is expected that the 2068 encounter will diminish in probability as more information about the 2029 pass by Apophis is acquired.

The Russian report said the core target of the possible mission would be to clarify the exact trajectory of Apophis for up to 2036. The satellite could be equipped with a radioisotope power source with a buffer battery.

Other scientists have suggested missions to place equipment on the Apophis’ surface, which could for the first time study an asteroid’s interior. Because the torque caused by the Earth’s gravitational pull will cause surface and interior disruption to Apophis, scientists have a unique opportunity to observe its otherwise inaccessible mechanical properties.

Apophis is approximately 270 meters (885 ft) in diameter, the size of two-and-a-half football fields.

Initially, when first discovered in 2004, Apophis was thought to have a 2.7 percent chance of impacting Earth in 2029, but as scientists have made better and more detailed observations, they were able to recalculate the path of Apophis, determining that there was no chance it would hit Earth in 2029 and significantly downgrading the odds of it hitting Earth on future passes.

“The refined orbital determination further reinforces that Apophis is an asteroid we can look to as an opportunity for exciting science and not something that should be feared,” said Don Yeomans, manager of the NEO Program Office at JPL. “The public can follow along as we continue to study Apophis and other near-Earth objects by visiting us on our AsteroidWatch Web site and by following us on the @AsteroidWatch Twitter feed.”

See more information from NASA’s NEO office.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

Recent Posts

Neutron Stars are Jetting Material Away at 40% the Speed of Light

It’s a well known fact that black holes absorb anything that falls into them. Often…

50 mins ago

Lunar Night Permanently Ends the Odysseus Mission

On February 15th, Intuitive Machines (IM) launched its first Nova-C class spacecraft from Kennedy Space…

10 hours ago

Webb Joins the Hunt for Protoplanets

We can't understand what we can't clearly see. That fact plagues scientists who study how…

13 hours ago

This Supernova Lit Up the Sky in 1181. Here’s What it Looks Like Now

Historical astronomical records from China and Japan recorded a supernova explosion in the year 1181.…

15 hours ago

Hubble Sees a Star About to Ignite

This is an image of the FS Tau multi-star system taken by the Hubble Space…

16 hours ago

This Black Hole is a Total Underachiever

Anyone can be an underachiever, even if you're an astronomical singularity weighing over four billion…

17 hours ago