Page 28 - 201212 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - December 2012

Asteroid to Miss Earth in 2040, NASA Says Asteroid to miss Earth in 2040, NASA says CNN (CNN) -- On a day when global doomsday predictions failed to pan out, NASA had more good news for the Earth: An asteroid feared to be on a collision course with our planet no longer poses a threat. Uncertainties about the orbit of the asteroid, known as 2011 AG5, previously allowed for a less than a 1% chance it would hit the Earth in February 2040, NASA said. To narrow down the asteroid's future course, NASA put out a call for more The position data obtained for near-Earth asteroid 2011 AG5 in October was used to reduce observation. Astronomers from the University its future orbital uncertainties. of Hawaii at Manoa took up the task and managed to observe the asteroid over several days in October. Many predicted the end of the world Company aims to mine "An analysis of the new data conducted would come Friday, the day on which a long by NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office phase in the ancient Mayan calendar came to an resource-rich asteroids at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, end. Some believe the day actually comes California, shows that the risk of collision in Sunday. (CNN) -- Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis 2040 has been eliminated," NASA declared Modern-day Mayans say the end of the pioneered the business of sending millionaire Friday. calendar phase doesn't mean the end of the tourists to space. Now they want to mine The new observations, made with the world -- just the end of an era, and the start of a asteroids for what they say will be tens of Gemini 8-meter telescope in Mauna Kea, new one. [] billions of dollars worth of resources annually Hawaii, reduce the orbit uncertainties by more for use on Earth and beyond. than a factor of 60. That means the Earth's NASA estimates 4,700 Seattle-area's Planetary Resources, position in February 2040 is not in range of the 'potentially hazardous' backed by big-money investors including asteroid's possible future paths. filmmaker James Cameron and Google The asteroid, which is 140 meters (460 asteroids executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, said feet) in diameter, will get no closer to Earth than Tuesday it plans to develop and launch a series 890,000 kilometers (553,000 miles), or more CNN of robotic systems and unmanned spacecraft, than twice the distance to the moon, NASA said. starting with its Arkyd-100 Earth-orbiting space A collision with Earth would have (CNN) -- About 4,700 asteroids are close telescopes that it hopes to launch by the end of released about 100 megatons of energy, several enough and big enough to pose a risk to Earth, 2013 to identify candidate near-Earth asteroids. thousand times more powerful than the atomic NASA estimated Wednesday after studying data The company hopes to dispatch swarms bombs that ended World War II, according to beamed back from an orbiting telescope. of Arkyd-300 prospecting spacecraft, which the Gemini Observatory. The figure -- give or take 1,500 -- is how would orbit candidate asteroids and finish the Observing the asteroid wasn't easy, said many space rocks bigger than 100 meters (330 process of determining what they hold, within David Tholen, an astronomer at the University feet) across are believed to come within 5 10 years. of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. million miles (8 million km) of Earth, or about The Bellevue, Washington, company The asteroid's position was very close to 20 times farther away than the moon. would then unveil a new system of spacecraft the sun, so astronomers had to observe it when "It's not something that people should for the payoff -- mining precious metal, such as the sky was dark. Tholen told CNN there was panic about," said Amy Mainzer, an astronomer platinum, for use on Earth -- and extracting about a half-hour between when the asteroid got at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in water, whose elements the company says can be high enough in the sky for the telescope to point California. "However, we are paying attention used for fuel and life-support systems in space. at it and before the sky became too light to to the issue." In short, Planetary Resources hopes it observe it. NASA defines a potentially hazardous will be in a very crucial and lucrative position of Because the astronomers were looking asteroid as one large enough to survive the not only boosting terrestrial industry, but also at the asteroid low in the sky, they were viewing intense heat generated by entry into the setting up a network of fuel depots that it through a lot of atmosphere, which scattered atmosphere and cause damage on a regional humanity will need to better explore the solar some of the light and made the object fainter, he scale or worse. The figure released Wednesday system and beyond. said. is lower than a previous rough estimate had "The Earth is feeling a resource pinch, "The second effect is the turbulence of projected, but more are now thought to be in and ultimately we will have the ability to turn the atmosphere makes things fainter," Tholen orbits inclined like Earth's, making them more that which is scarce into abundant," Diamandis, said. "We had to keep trying over and over until likely to cross its path. who co-founded Planetary Resources with we got one of those nights when the atmosphere "It allows us to find the very dark Anderson in 2009 but generally kept mum about was calm." asteroids, the ones that are more like a piece of the project until this month, said at a press event Tholen and the team also discovered the coal and than shiny pavement," she said. "We in Seattle on Tuesday. asteroid is elongated, so that as it rotates, its can also tell the difference between an asteroid "It can be done, and yes, it's very brightness changes. That was another challenge that's very large and very dark and a small one difficult ... but the returns economically and the for the astronomers: Because they didn't know that's very shiny." benefit to humanity are extraordinary," added the asteroid's rotation period, they didn't know Mainzer said between 20% and 30% of Diamandis, who also is chairman of the X Prize when it would wax and wane, and when it the estimated 4,700 potentially hazardous Foundation. would grow too faint to see. objects have been discovered so far. [] Company representatives said having "This object was changing its brightness platinum and other metals in more abundance by a factor of three or four -- it was just CHECK OUT THE ALL NEW would ensure humanity's continued ability to enormously variable," Tholen said. "It was hit ‘X’ ZONE STORE develop important electronics, and perhaps and miss depending on which night you make them cheaper. observed it." www.xzonestore.com (Continued on Page 30)