2019 Review: August 18th - August 25th
If progressions in space missions and ominous predictions of potentially hazardous asteroids just skimming the Earth thrill you, then strap in: you're about to have a fantastic day.
Apophis. God of Chaos. Perhaps these names have swung by you this week? Well, in case you haven't heard, NASA has kicked off its preparations for dealing with 99942 Apophis, an asteroid set on a trajectory which will lead it to pass frighteningly close by the Earth in 2029. The 340-meter-wide asteroid will be one of the largest asteroids to pass close to the Earth, and if it deviates from its current path, causing it to collide with the Earth, the impact could be disastrous.
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Dubbed 'God of Chaos', this giant space rock is hurtling towards us at about 25,000 miles per hour, and will pass closer to the Earth than television satellites, which are in geostationary orbits at an altitude of 22,200 miles. Apophis will pass within 19,000 miles from the planet. Its speed will cause it to cross the entire width of the moon, as seen from Earth, in one minute, and will be as brightly lit against the black void of space as the distant stars.
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NASA has started to prepare for studying the asteroid as it passes by the Earth, maintaining that it will be a great opportunity for gaining scientific insight. As Radar NASA scientist Marine Brozovic put it: "The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science."
This week seems to be full of revelations revolving around asteroids and/or meteorites. Fortunately, this next one poses no potential harm, not least because it already collided with the Earth between 3 million to 13,000 years ago.
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NASA has found a giant meteorite crater under the ice shelves of Greenland. Scientists say that the crater was caused by a 800-meter-wide asteroid crashing into the Earth. According to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the crater is 300 meters deep and 31 kilometers across - that's enough area to cover the city of Paris. It is also large enough to be in the top 25 largest impact craters ever to be found on Earth. On top of all that glory, it also happens to be the first impact crater to be found under our planet's ice sheets.
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Researchers have and still are looking into the data, to find all that there is to be learnt from this discovery, which was first made in 2015.
On Tuesday, India's Chandraayan 2 overcame one of the most daunting tasks of its mission: entering into lunar orbit. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the duration of the maneuver was 1738 seconds, as it completed its Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI).
This was especially difficult since it had to approach at just the right velocity, as if it had been too slow, the moon's gravity would have reeled it in, causing it to crash. On the other hand, if it had approached too slowly, it would have missed its mark and gotten flung out into deep space.
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The space agency plans to drop a probe onto the lunar South Pole on the 7th of September. If everything goes according to plan, India would become the fourth nation to have ever landed a spacecraft on the moon, after Russia, China and the United States.
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ISRO says that the mission will help better understand the moon, its evolution and origin by conducting topographical studies and mineralogical analysis, among other experiments.
GSLV-MkIII-M1 rocket carrying Chandrayaan-2 lifts off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh | Photo: ISRO
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Continuing the trend from last week, we arrive to discuss ideas presented by the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla: Elon Musk.
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Recently, his 'Nuke Mars' strategy of warming up the Red Planet enough for it to be hospitable to life, had made a resurgence as he tweeted about it and then followed up by releasing T-shirts regarding the same proposal.
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However, recently Musk has also considered using a different albeit less booming method for achieving this goal. He tweeted on Tuesday that it might make more sense to have thousands of solar reflectors mounted on satellites, which would essentially reflect and concentrate the Sun's heat onto the planet, than to have artificial suns, which would have been the result of detonating very low fallout nuclear weapons above the atmosphere.
Musk ended the tweet with "tbd", or "to be discussed", indicating that he is still debating between the two ideas.
Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? That, among other things, is what the Europa CLipper mission is prepared to find out.
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The mission was confirmed by NASA, and is set to conduct an "in-depth exploration" of Jupiter's moon, Europa.
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The latest announcements revealed to the world that the spacecraft will be ready as early as 2023, giving them two years to finalize the mission, which is intended to be launched in 2025. In 2015, the mission had entered its developmental phase.
And so, we reach the end of another week. From the mission announcements to an alternative to detonating nuclear warheads on Mars, it has been quite a rich week, full of revived anticipation for what the future holds, whether about learning new things about the universe, or taking another step towards making humanity an interplanetary species.
See you next Sunday!