You ever see those hero movies where they go to outer space to fight aliens and such?
Well, this satellite is just like that. Hello, my fellow space fans and welcome to this video,
tune in for more information on the newly-acquired NASA Asteroid Hunting Satellite.
Don’t forget to click like and subscribe for more! Now, on to the video.
Let’s pick up where we left off. So, like I said, these Asteroid Hunting Satellites are like those
heroes in movies battling aliens and such, except instead of warding off extraterrestrial invasions
they actually protect us from asteroids. Before we dive into the machinery, I’ll divulge deeper into
why we should be checking out for asteroids in the first place.. Asteroids, what are they? These are
small, rocky objects that orbit the sun. Similar to planets but smaller. These outer space rocks
are actually left overs from the formation of our solar system. Picture this, a sculptor molding a
new sculpture and the higher his progress the more bits fall to the ground. I guess God or whoever
made the universe was also sculpting planets and in doing so, they left asteroids. A little fun
fact, the differences between asteroids, meteors and meteorites are that asteroids are always
found in space, once it enters the atmosphere it becomes a meteor and then after it hits the
ground it’s called a meteorite. Essentially, they are the same but the difference is when they are
being observed. So, what the news reports to be space debris are actually meteorites but
they were once asteroids floating around in space too. According to the Planetary Science Institute,
500 estimated meteorites reach the surface of the Earth each year but only less than 10 are
recovered. That’s a lot of falling space rocks, but why aren’t all of them covered you ask? Well,
that’s because most fall into bodies of water like oceans, seas or lakes as well as land in remote
areas of the Earth. Now you may ask, “so aren’t asteroids ultimately harmless?” Sorry to say,
but that isn’t completely true because despite their size they can be dangerous. Many have
actually hit Earth with human life in the past and they’ve all come with such a bang.
One of Earth’s greatest strikes is the incident of Tunguska in 1908. On June 30, 1908 over the
Tunguska River in central Siberia was where an explosion that shook the whole world took place.
The age-old mystery holds that 200 square kilometers of trees were flattened and that’s not
to mention, the indigenous Evenki people who lived near the area reported that their animals were
mysteriously thrown into the air by some sort of shockwave. Reportedly, a bright flash of light was
visible all the way in London. But wait, I said this was a mystery, well for starters, although
everyone is pretty convinced it was a massive space rock that caused the blast, there is no
actual sign of an obvious crater nearby, unless of course, you believe that fishy theory of it being
nearby Lake Cheko. But whether you believe this to be some explosion caused by space debris or
from a sudden huge belch of subterranean gas, we know that it was something out of this world.
To further illustrate harmful asteroid impacts, we head over to southwest Russia the city of
Chelyabinsk to be precise. In 2013, a superbolide – which is a bolide that reaches a magnitude of
-17 or brighter – caused a series of lights that suddenly appeared in the sky, which coincided with
the astronomer’s predictions of a large meteoroid called 2012 DA14 to pass close to Earth. But not
only did that meteoroid pass it also hit close to home, because 16 hours before that the Chelyabinsk
rock came down – coincidence? I think not! This impact left flying glass blown out by
the shockwave and injured more than 1000 people. Later on, fragments of the rock were found and it
revealed that it was a chondrite, a non-metallic meteorite and was originally 19 meters across.
Our last example might be the one you might know from all those dinosaur movies. Yes, it’s the big
catalyst that caused the extinction of dinosaurs and about three-quarters of all life on Earth.
Ironically, this 65-million-year-old asteroid impact is one of the youngest and most accessible
craters in the solar system with various research teams drilling down more than a kilometer to
reach the rocks old enough to witness the impact themselves. The Chicxulub impact devastated the
region in the Gulf of Mexico, producing a shock wave and air blast that radiated across the seas,
over coastlines and deep into the continental interior. The crater can be found on the
Yucatan Peninsula, and is now used for research about the Earth’s crust.
So, between mysterious animals floating, glass injuries impacting 1000 people
and the extinction of one of the most remarkable species on Earth, I sure hope you believe that
asteroids aren’t just pieces of soft pillows from the sky. And that is why NASA is speeding up
this proposal. The infrared space telescope is an asteroid hunting satellite. This helpful machinery
is actually called the NEO Surveyor or Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope. The new mission
proposal was designed to discover and characterize most of the potentially hazardous asteroids
that are near the Earth. In other words, they are like watchtowers for the Earth and NASA is where
the guards are. Fortunately for us, on June 11, 2021 NASA has approved this as it’ll exemplify
their efforts for planetary defense. After the approval, we move on to the next phase of mission
development which is the preliminary design also known as Key Decision Point-B. Mike Kelley, a NEO
Surveyor program scientist at NASA Headquarters says that, “NEO Surveyor will have the capability
to rapidly accelerate the rate at which NASA is able to discover asteroids and comets
that could pose a hazard to the Earth, and it is being designed to discover 90 percent of asteroids
140 meters in size or larger within a decade of being launched.” This big promise might actually
come to life seeing as their goal to discover 90 percent of all NEOs larger than 1,000 meters was
completed way back 2010. The agency’s diligence is directed by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-155) and their current progress is approximately 40% of
near-Earth asteroids within this size range. The telescope will be most beneficial to
astronomers all across the globe who tirelessly work to discover new NEOs. These astronomers
characterize their shape and size as well as to warn us if they are possibly life-threatening
using only a ground-based optical telescope, which can be quite time-consuming and tiring.
Kelly Fast, program manager for the initiative says that the process is limiting because the
ground-based telescopes can only scour through the sky at night. The NEO Surveyor would allow
for observations to continue 24/7, specifically targeting regions where NEOs are more prone to
as well as it’ll help them reach their Congressional goal in the pace they want.
There are actually ways to prevent these asteroid impacts, and being able to track
potential hazardous space debris is one of them. Detecting them early on will ensure that
deflection or other preparations for impact mitigation can be carried out in due time,
does the Chelyabinsk incident ring a bell? NASA’s next line of planetary defense is their deflection
technology, the kinetic impactor with its Double Asteroid Redirection test, code name DART mission
to be launched in late 2021. As of the moment, no predicted life-threatening or Chicxulub-like
impact is set to hit Earth but unpredicted impacts might still happen. Amy Mainzer,
survey director, emphasized that searching for NEOs closer to the direction of the Sun,
would help astronomers discover hazardous impacts that hit during the daytime,
which is a blind spot for those ground-based telescopes. She also exemplifies that NEO
Surveyor would also significantly enhance NASA’s ability to determine the specific
sizes and characteristics of newly discovered NEOs by using infrared light, complementing
the ongoing observations being conducted by ground-based observatories and radar.”
The mission is being developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California
and managed by NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center
and is oversighted by the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which was created
to manage NASA’s efforts of Planetary Defense. The NEO Surveyor’s approval is a step closer to
that telescope being launched; and a step closer for the safety of all mankind. So,
let us know your thoughts about NASA’s Asteroid Hunting Satellite in the comments down below
and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more interesting videos, See you soon, Take care.