Tag: asteroid hitting earth

[ad_1] NASA, on September 8, 2016, launched the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) as part of a mission to study a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) called Bennu, which has a 1/2700 chance of impacting Earth between 2175 and 2195. After a nearly 6-year mission that involved landing on the asteroid and collecting rock and dust, the spacecraft landed back on our soil safely on September 24. The collected samples then went under a “nitrogen purge” and will now be transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they will be inventoried and distributed to scientists all over the world. In a separate development, NASA has also discovered a Near-Earth Asteroid whose orbit will bring it close to Earth today, and...

[ad_1] NASA has recently shed light on an asteroid whose orbit will bring it close to Earth. This Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) is expected to make its closest approach to Earth today, September 22. Whilst this space rock will come very close to the planet, it is not expected to impact the surface. According to NASA, Asteroid 2023 RQ6 will pass by Earth at a distance of around 6 million kilometers. It is already on its way toward the planet, traveling at a blistering speed of 33912 kilometers per hour.Asteroid 2023 RQ6: Is it dangerous?Despite its close approach and breakneck speed, NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has not classified this asteroid as a Potentially Hazardous Object due to its relatively small size. These are celestial objects larger than about 490 meters t...