Spaceflight 🚀#HelioLinc3D spotted an #asteroid ☄️ that similar surveys had failed to see. It was specifically designed for the @VRubinObs in #Chile 🇨🇱. The #observatory’s huge mirror 📡, massive camera and expansive eye will see 👁️ pretty much everything in the night sky 🌌 in unprecedented detail https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/science/space-asteroids-rubin-heliolinc3d.html
In 📆 2018, #StephenHawking considered an #asteroid ☄️ collision to be the biggest threat to the #planet. The #US National Science and Technology Council warned that America is unprepared for an asteroid impact 💥 event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_prediction
“Our goal is that by 📆 2030, #Europe 🇪🇺 can provide early warning for hazardous #asteroids larger than 40 m in size, about three weeks before any impact” https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Flyeye_ESA_s_bug-eyed_asteroid_hunter
Closest & Biggest #Asteroid ☄️ Flybys of 📆 2023 https://www.statista.com/chart/27703/asteroid-flybys
Timeline of approaches within one #lunar distance 📏 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth#Timeline_of_approaches_within_one_lunar_distance
190 confirmed ☄️ #craters given in the #Earth Impact 💥 Database as of 2017. Only the largest impact structures within a time period are included https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_structures_on_Earth
“The most glaring mistake is the #government cover-up… just completely bogus.” And a #meteorite that struck southwest #Ontario in November illustrated that a cover-up couldn’t be further from the truth when actual Earth-pummeling #asteroids ☄️ are found. https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/you-help-protect-earth-asteroid
#AsteroidInstitute / #University of #Washington / #OpenSpace Project - #Asteroid discoveries 🔭 from Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFvf86SM7CY
Asteroid discoveries from Earth -Asteroid Institute + Google April 30, 2024
We simply didn't notice 🙈 until recently 😨 https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/over-33000-near-earth-asteroids-have-been-detected-since-1990
Over 40,000 near-Earth asteroids have been detected since 1990
Since the late 20th century, astronomers and space agencies have taken steps to monitor the threat of large asteroids passing near Earth. They set up international efforts to find these objects early, track their paths, and learn more about what they’re made of, so we’d have the best chance of spotting a real collision risk in time.
Only eight #asteroids ☄️ have ever been detected before impact 💥 with #Earth’s atmosphere. The first of these discoveries took place in 📆 2008, and four were detected in just the last two years https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/Asteroid_2024_BX1_spotted_three_hours_before_impact
#Asteroid danger explained : "The main challenge stems from the population of middle-size objects, ranging from tens to hundreds of metres in diameter. There are a lot of these asteroids, and most have not been spotted yet." https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/06/Asteroid_danger_explained
@VRubinObs 🔭 Today, #astronomers are aware of only about 40 percent 📊 of potentially hazardous #asteroids ☄️ - close-flying objects that are large enough to cause continent-wide destruction if they were to impact 💥 Earth. "The idea is, if there is an object like that, we want to find it while it’s maybe 40 or 50 years out, because that gives us enough time to figure out how we’re going to deflect it.” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-revolutionary-new-observatory-will-locate-threatening-asteroids-and-millions-of-galaxies-180984514/
"The YR4 episode is just the beginning for #astronomers gaining the capability to see 🔭 these objects ☄️ before they come calling through our neck of the woods." https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/asteroid-2024-yr4-may-be-a-dud-but-we-will-soon-find-many-more-threats
"The bad news is #NASA estimates that it tracks only about 40 percent 📊 of the #asteroids ☄️#large enough that they could cause calamity if they were to hit 💥 #Earth" https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/24/nasa-asteroid-telescope
#ESA : #Asteroid danger explained https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/06/Asteroid_danger_explained
The 20-inch diameter #telescope 🔭 will carry out a five-year baseline survey to find at least two-thirds of the unknown #NEOs ☄️ larger than 140 meters 📏. It will launch around 📆 September 2027 to detect and observe #asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact 💥 threat to Earth https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/spacex-nasa-rocket-asteroid
A single #HAMMER impactor (9-meter-tall, 8.8-ton) could deflect an object ☄️ 90 meters in diameter 📏 by around 1.4 Earth radii with 10 years of lead time – from the time of launch to anticipated Earth impact. If limited to #telescopic 🔭 observations, it’s possible that researchers may not be 100 percent certain of an #impact until less than a year before collision 💥. https://www.llnl.gov/article/44186/scientists-design-conceptual-asteroid-deflector-and-evaluate-it-against-massive-potential
Scientists design conceptual asteroid deflector and evaluate it against massive potential threat
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are part of a national planetary defense team that designed a conceptual spacecraft to deflect Earth-bound asteroids and evaluated whether it would be able to nudge a massive asteroid – which has a remote chance to hitting Earth in 2135 – off course.
The warning time ⚠️ is unlikely to be more than a few months. Impacts 💥 from objects as small as 50 meters in diameter 📏, which are far more common, are historically extremely destructive regionally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_avoidance#Deflection_efforts
In 2005, the #US Congress laid out a clear mandate: the nation should be able to detect, track, catalog, and characterize no less than 90 percent of all #NEO at least 140 meters 📏 across.
As of today, we have identified less than half and characterized only a small percentage 📊 of those possible threats. Even if we did have a full census, we do not have the #capabilities to rapidly respond to an Earth-intersecting #asteroid ☄️https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/outdoing-the-dinosaurs-what-we-could-do-if-we-spot-a-threatening-asteroid
The first step in averting an #asteroid ☄️ impact 💥 with Earth is just to know what near-Earth objects are out there 🔭. Plenty of city-killer asteroids remain lurking and undiscovered, potentially still posing a real risk to life on the planet. In the 50-meter range, a meager 7 percent 📊 of #NEOs have been found. @VRubinObs and #NEOSurveyor will locate an anticipated 90 percent of the entire population of objects 140 meters 📏 and larger https://spectrum.ieee.org/planetary-defense-killer-asteroids
More than half of the “city killer” 🌃 #asteroids ☄️ that might threaten Earth remain undiscovered. The blast from an #asteroid of 140 meter 📏 would be roughly 600 times 📈 more destructive 💥 than #Chelyabinsk, because a doubling in diameter increases a space rock’s kinetic energy by eight times. Observing 🔭 in the infrared, #NEOSurveyor* will see those hidden asteroids glow like fireflies in the night https://www.science.org/content/article/nasa-telescope-will-hunt-down-city-killer-asteroids
* Launch 🚀 September 2027 https://science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor
#NASA’s #NEOSurveyor mission is now slated for no earlier than 📆 mid-2027, will spend at least five years scanning for potentially hazardous #asteroids ☄️ larger than 140 meters.
#NEOHunter - nearly nine times more massive than #DART - could execute a direct high-energy impact 💥, delivering approximately 1.5 times the kinetic energy
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/blue-origin-neo-hunter-planetary-defense/
