U.S.- NEA Scout a satellite the size of a cshoe store will visit a asteroid no bigger than a school bus, which will become the smallest asteroid ever studied by a spacecraft of the POT.
NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Scout will launch with an unmanned test flight, dubbed Artemis I. About the size of a shoebox, it will chase what is the smallest asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft.
According to what was reported by NASA, this ship would use a solar sail of 86 square meters, as a propulsion method taking advantage of solar radiation.
The near-Earth asteroid 2020 GE is no larger than 18 meters and will be explored by a spacecraft that will use scientific cameras to closely capture the surface and other aspects such as size, shape, rotation.
Once the first images are obtained, scientists will determine whether asteroid 2020 GE is compact like a rock or is composed of small rocks and dust like some larger asteroids of its kind.
2020 GE was first observed on March 12, 2020, by the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey, as part of its search for near-Earth objects for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
“Although large asteroids are of most concern from a planetary defense perspective, objects like 2020 GE are much more common and can pose a danger to our planet, despite their smaller size.”Castillo-Rogez said.
Read more: We are in danger? Study indicates that the Earth cools faster than calculated
In this sense, he mentioned that the Chelyabinsk meteor was caused by a small asteroid about 20 meters in diameter; exploded over the Russian city on February 15, 2013, creating a shock wave that shattered windows across the city and injured more than 1,600 people. That was the same class of NEA as 2020 GE.
.
#NASA #launches #mission #chase #meteor #miniature #spacecraft #solar #sail
