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Asteroid Once Seen As Dangerous Offers Chance For Close Study
RedEaredSlider writes "An asteroid that once was seen as a danger to the Earth may soon provide a once-in-a-century opportunity to get a close look at one — and learn more about the ones that really are a hazard. The asteroid is called Apophis. It's a near-Earth asteroid that is a type called a chondrite, essentially a stony body that has high silicate content and few metals. It is about 330 meters across, and it's due to pass the Earth in 2029."
The speed, relative to Earth, during the encounter will be quite high - so a probe / lander / etc. allowing for really close study would need to get quite a kick from its rocket. And very rapidly (basically ruling out more efficient means of propulsion, those tend to have very low thrust) Probably much larger than sending it to some more optimal (regarding transfer orbits and delta-v) targets, a thing ... which we are already doing!
If it turns to be practical, another nice target is good to have of course.
One that hath name thou can not otter
Spectroscopes
Geology - it's not rocket science; it's rock science
How do they know the content so well
They know it by inference, from meteorites that have been recovered on earth and, presumably, have a similar composition.
Because its orbital properties have been very well studied due to the potential if civilization altering impact. We know its approximate volume and mass. this gives us a fairly good clue about its composition because a mostly metal asteroid would be much more dense.
As a proof of concept of the manipulation of large nearby objects for commercial or planetary defense why not attempt to capture it into some not too remote orbit? I mean, "what could possibly go wrong?" Think of it as keeping a cue-ball handy for the next object that we want to redirect. Or stick telemetry on it; or a kick-ass telescope. Or mine it for unobtainium. If we don't learn to screw with the toys nearby we'll never move on to the proper human hegemony.
What's with the exotic asteroid names? Just once, I'd love to see them name an extraterrestrial body "Bob". I can see the headlines now: "Bob threatens impact with Earth". Much less scary than "Apophis threatens to wipe out all life on planet!".
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
*nudge* There, fixed that for ya. Now it'll land so you can get a closer look...
We have a good idea of the composition of asteroids in general, from meteorites, planetary formation models, etc.
We believe Apophis is chondritic because based on its apparent brightness and the way that brightness varies, we have a decent estimate of its size and albedo. If it had a different albedo it would indicate a different composition.
Of course, as with all remote observations based on a lot of educated guesses, there is a chance its wrong. However, if it is its probably a pathological case we could never gotten right, and that would make it even more interesting to visit.
I love that show (Stargate). Not as good as Babylon 5 or Deep Space Nine, but still a great series. Always kept me on the edge of my seat, and I enjoyed the "exploring new worlds" aspect that other shows have abandoned.
- Like the planet with the strange white men that talked to flowers
- Or the time they accidentally opened onto a black hole gate (Never understood why they were not able to rescue the other SG team.)
- Or the first time they met the replicators
Good stuff.
Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
Apophis? No problem. If it had been called Anubis I would've been worried that it was filled with Naquadah or something.
It is a little better than a wild ass guess. This particular asteroid happens to pass fairly close to the Earth from time to time and is also studied a bit more carefully due to its predicted potential to strike the Earth.
Yes, there is a chance it could be wrong, but there have been other asteroids which have been studied much more carefully and have even had physical probes go near or even land upon them for various kinds of scientific studies. Based upon those studies as well as meteor samples it seems like a pretty good assumption.
The orbital trajectory is known to a high degree, and it certainly will be passing near the Earth... at least pass closer to the Earth than the Moon is from us. A manned expedition to this asteroid is even possible under those circumstances, and certainly a sample/return mission could be possible not to mention having dozens of amateur and professional telescopes get a real close look at this object when it passes under the orbits of a whole bunch of satellites.
What is especially useful here is due to this sort of close observation, it can help to refine and confirm or deny theories used to identify the composition of more distant asteroids. More likely it will help to refine them and perhaps even set up additional and finer classification guidelines.
Or the time they accidentally opened onto a black hole gate (Never understood why they were not able to rescue the other SG team.)
Apparently you didn't like the show enough to understand why they couldn't rescue the other team. It had to do with the gravity well of the black hole causing time dilation. What they were seeing had already taken place.
In fact, the event horizon got into the SG center and was in the process of doing its thing until a small nuclear device was dropped into the Stargate, severing the connection.
The complete rundown.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower