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<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA works with a worldwide coalition of astronomers to find and track dangerous asteroids.</li><li>In the event of an impending hazardous asteroid strike, NASA already has its plan in place to alert the public.</li></ul><p>When the Chicxulub impactor, a six-mile-wide asteroid, struck Earth 66 million years ago, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dinosaurs-going-extinct-before-asteroid-hit-earth-study-2021-6">dinosaurs had no warning</a>. </p><p>If an asteroid that size hit Earth today, a shock wave two million times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb would flatten forests and trigger tsunamis. A seismic pulse equal to a magnitude 10 earthquake would crumble cities. And long after the impact, a cloud of hot dust, ash, and steam would blot out the sun, plunging the Earth into freezing cold. </p><div type="image" title="An artists depiction of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs" height="1449" width="2070" msid="107779797" hostid="261" sizebytes="373936"></div><p>But at least we'd probably know it was coming ahead of time. And if NASA has anything to say about it, we may even be able to prevent the apocalypse. </p><p>NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office is tasked with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-nasa-shouldnt-waste-time-moon-polls-say-2023-8">finding, tracking, and assessing the risk</a> associated with potentially hazardous asteroids in our solar system.</p><p>“We definitely want to find all those before they find us,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/people/lindley-johnson/"><u>Lindley Johnson</u></a>, Lead Program Executive for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.</p><p>To do that, NASA works with a global coalition of astronomers called the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN). </p><p>Here’s what they would do if an apocalyptic asteroid strike was headed toward Earth. </p><h2>An international warning system </h2><p>In the event that a dangerous asteroid is headed toward Earth, IAWN has procedures in place to notify the public. </p><p>First, the party members who detected the threat would share their observations across the IAWN network to verify their findings and assess the danger.</p><p>Once all parties agree that Earth should brace for impact, NASA would send out an alert.</p><p>“I don’t have a red phone on my desk or anything,” Johnson said. “But we do have formal procedures by which notification of a serious impact would be provided.”</p><p>If the asteroid was headed toward the US, NASA would notify the White House, and the government would release a formal statement to the public. If it was big enough to pose an international threat, IAWN would notify the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs.</p><h2>Hunting for asteroids </h2><p>An asteroid is considered “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-warns-asteroid-skyscraper-football-stadium-size-pass-earth-watch-2024-2">potentially hazardous</a>” if it is larger than roughly 460 feet across and intersects Earth’s orbit at a minimum distance of 0.5 astronomical units, which is half the distance between Earth and the sun. </p><p>There are about 2,300 known potentially hazardous asteroids out there, and roughly 153 of them are larger than 0.6 miles across. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-sizes-that-can-damage-cities-states-planet-2018-6">That’s big enough to trigger a catastrophe if one struck Earth.</a></p><p>To find and track them, NASA and the other IAWN partners look for new asteroids in addition to tracking ones that have already been discovered. All their observations get compiled into a database at the Minor Planet Center.</p><p>So far, IAWN has found over 34,000 near-Earth asteroids. With enough observational data, NASA can confidently predict their orbits at least a century into the future, Johnson said.</p><p>There’s a slim chance that the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-predicts-exact-date-asteroid-hit-earth-atomic-bomb-bennu-2023-9"><u>potentially hazardous Bennu asteroid</u></a> could hit Earth in 159 years, triggering an explosion equal to 24 nuclear bombs. But the odds of that happening are only about one in 2,700, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-spacecraft-provides-insight-into-asteroid-bennus-future-orbit"><u>according to a 2021 study</u></a>.</p><p>If Bennu does head toward Earth, NASA has a few tricks up its sleeve to defend our planet.</p><h2>Defending Earth</h2><p>Most of the time, IAWN catches oncoming asteroids long before they become an immediate threat to Earth, according to Johnson. But NASA would need at least five to 10 years of advanced notice to prevent the apocalypse from an approaching asteroid. </p><p>In 2021, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-crashes-dart-spacecraft-into-asteroid-to-test-planetary-defense-2022-9">NASA launched its first planetary defense test mission</a>. It rammed an uncrewed spacecraft into an asteroid to shift its orbit away from Earth.</p><div type="image" title="An illustration of a spacecraft flying in front of an asteroid" height="1376" width="2180" msid="107779800" hostid="261" sizebytes="184652"></div><p>The mission was a success, and NASA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-driver-asks-nasa-save-earth-from-world-ending-asteroids-2023-3">plans to test more deflection techniques</a> in the future. A developing “gravity tractor” technique would send a spacecraft to stay in position next to the asteroid and allow the gravitational interaction to pull the asteroid out of its orbit. NASA is also working on a technique that uses an ion beam to shift an asteroid's course.</p><p>But if the threat was coming in less than five years, NASA wouldn’t have time to deflect the asteroid. Then, it might resort to destruction to minimize and disperse the impact.</p><p>If NASA only had a few months of warning, then <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-simulation-reveals-need-years-of-warning-2021-5"><u>there’s not much it could do to save Earth</u></a>.</p><p>Thankfully, IAWN’s strategy is to find asteroids decades, if not centuries, before the impact. </p><p>“That gives us plenty of time to then try to do something about them while they’re still in space, so that we completely avoid any catastrophe here on Earth,” Johnson said.</p>

NASA explains how it would alert the public of an apocalyptic asteroid strike 

<ul><li>The biggest asteroid of 2021 is set to zoom past the planet at 9:00 pm on March 21 Indian Standard Time (IST).</li><li>The half-a-kilometre wide space rock was first spotted in 2001, but this time it will be ten times closer to Earth at a distance of 2 million kilometres.</li><li>The near-Earth object, dubbed 2001 FO32, will also be flying through faster than an average asteroid at 123,876 kilometres per hour.</li></ul>The biggest asteroid of the year is set to fly past Earth tonight. The space rock, dubbed 2001 FO32, is nearly half a kilometre wide — that’s more than twice the height of India’s Statue of Unity, the tallest statue in the world.<br /><br />Moreover, it will be closing in on the planet at a whopping speed of 123,876 kilometres per hour (kmph), which is faster than an average asteroid.<br /><br /><strong>Details of asteroid 2001 FO32’s close approach:</strong><br /><table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Date and time<br /><br /></td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">9:00 pm on March 21 Indian Standard Time (IST)<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Distance from Earth<br /><br /></td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2 million kilometres<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Speed of close approach<br /><br /></td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">123,876 kilometres per hour<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Size<br /><br /></td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Between 440 metres to 680 metres wide<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/asteroid-2001-fo32-will-safely-pass-by-earth-march-21">NASA</a>), the asteroid doesn’t pose any threat to our planet. “There is no chance the asteroid will get any closer to Earth than 1.25 million miles [2 million kilometres]” said Paul Chodas, the director of The Centre for Near-Earth Objects Studies (CNEOS), in a statement. <br /><br />Nonetheless, that’s close enough for 2011 FO32 to be put on NASA’s Asteroid Watchlist and be designated a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="E_orbital-diagram_edited" msid="81610035" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;This diagram depicts the elongated and inclined orbit of 2001 FO32 as it travels around the Sun (white ellipse). Because of this orbit, when the asteroid makes its close approach to Earth, it will be travelling at an unusually fast speed of 124,000 kph.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br /><strong>The 20-year old frenemy<br /></strong>The <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=231937;orb=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#discovery">CNEOS</a> has been tracking this asteroid for nearly two decades since it was first spotted on 23 March 2001 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program.<br /><br />Initially, it was thought to be one kilometre wide, which is 200 metres wider than even the height of the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa. However, more recent observations were able to determine that the asteroid is more like between 440 metres to 680 metres wide. <br /><br />The encounter set to take place on March 21 will provide astronomers with the opportunity to get a more precise reading on the space rock not only in terms of its size but also to determine its composition. <br /><br />It helps that the asteroid is going to be ten times closer than it was in 2001 at a distance of 23.9 kilometres from Earth. <br /><br /><div type="image" title="2001_FO32_asteroid_edited" msid="81610089" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Distance between 2001 FO32 and Earth during the close approach on March 21&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br /><strong>What’s the real threat?<br /></strong>The bigger the asteroid, the bigger the threat. As long it doesn’t get close enough to be pulled in by Earth’s gravity, Earthlings can breathe a sigh of relief.<br /><br />But past experiences have shown us that asteroids, some which are much smaller than 2001 FO32, have the potential to wreak havoc once they break through the atmosphere.<br /><br />In 2013, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-last-major-asteroid-to-hit-earth-destroyed-500-square-kilometers-and-it-could-have-been-much-worse/articleshow/70782507.cms">Chelyabinsk </a>meteor — only 17 metres wide — streaked through the skies of Russia and exploded only 30 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. <br /><br /><div type="image" title="asteroid russi_edited" msid="81610041" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Windows and doors shattered in Chelyabinsk, Russia after meteor explodes with the force of 40 Hiroshima bombs overhead&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />Even though there wasn’t a direct impact, the resulting force equivalent to 444,000 tonnes of TNT exploding was enough to shatter glass, level trees and break down buildings within a radius of 500 square kilometres.<br /><br />But, thankfully, that is not a concern with 2001 FO32. As the asteroid makes its way through the inner solar system — the area from Mars to Mercury — it will pick up speed like a skateboarder rolling down a halfpipe before slowing down and being flung back into deep space to continue its orbit around the Sun, according to NASA.<br /><strong><br />SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-happens-when-an-asteroid-actually-hits-earth/articleshow/70732006.cms">What happens when an asteroid actually hits Earth</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/a-comet-has-been-spotted-among-jupiters-ancient-asteroids-for-the-very-first-time/articleshow/81227753.cms">A comet has been spotted among Jupiter's ancient asteroids for the very first time</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/nasa-and-europes-first-target-to-keep-an-asteroid-from-hitting-earth-has-officially-been-dubbed-dimorphos/articleshow/77149192.cms"><strong>NASA and Europe’s first target to keep an asteroid from hitting Earth has officially been dubbed Dimorphos</strong></a><br />

The biggest asteroid of 2021 is going to zoom past Earth tonight flying as fast as 100,000 kmph

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11908741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jeff-bezos" source="Orion">Jeff Bezos</keyword> predicts that people will one day be born in <keyword id="11895441" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="space" source="Orion">space</keyword> while living on outer space colonies.</li><li>Space colonies make more sense than moving to a new planet, he said in an interview Wednesday.</li></ul><p>In Jeff Bezos' vision of the future, people will be born in space colonies and visit Earth on vacation. </p><p>Bezos discussed space, <keyword id="11908742" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="blue-origin" source="Orion">Blue Origin</keyword>'s plans, and the relationship between space exploration and saving Earth during a conversation Wednesday at the <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?515984-1/jeff-bezos-nasa-administrator-bill-nelson-dni-avril-haines-discuss-us-space-policy">2021 Ignatius Forum</a> in Washington, DC.</p><p>During the interview, the Amazon and Blue Origin founder expanded on his idea for space colonies: floating habitats that mimic Earth's weather and gravitational pull. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-proposes-floating-colonies-with-weather-as-good-as-maui-2019-5">floating, spinning cylinders</a> would be able to hold as many as a million people and would have "rivers and forests and wildlife," he said. </p><p>"Over centuries, many people will be born in space, it will be their first home," Bezos said. "They will be born on these colonies, live on these colonies, then they'll visit Earth the way you would visit, you know, Yellowstone National Park." </p><p>Bezos first mentioned the idea of building space colonies as far back as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-space-travel-lifelong-obsession-blue-origin-flight-2021-6">his valedictorian speech at his high school graduation,</a> and he said Wednesday that he believes space colonies are a better option than trying to restart life on another planet.</p><p>"Even if you were to terreform <keyword id="12055530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mars" source="Orion">Mars</keyword> or do something very dramatic like that - which could be very, very challenging, by the way - even if you were to do that, that is, at most, a doubling of Earth," Bezos said. "Then you're going from 10 billion people to 20 billion people." </p><p>How to establish life outside of Earth is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gaping-holes-elon-musk-and-jeff-bezos-space-plans-2019-7">a major point of contention</a> between Bezos and Tesla and <keyword id="11908743" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex" source="Orion">SpaceX</keyword> founder <keyword id="11897862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword>. Musk has stated that the main goal of his rocket company is to "colonize Mars," and Bezos' reference to terraforming appears to be an indirect jab at Musk: Musk has endorsed the straight-from-science-fiction idea, in which the planet would need to be transformed using nuclear weapons to make it habitable for humans (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-just-quashed-elon-musks-plans-to-make-mars-habitable-for-humans-2018-7">NASA has since said</a> this wouldn't work). </p><p>For his part, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-criticises-jeff-bezos-vision-of-space-colonies-2019-5">Musk tweeted in 2019</a> that Bezos' plan won't work, either, because you'd need to "transport vast amounts of mass from planets/moons/asteroids." </p><p>"Would be like trying to build the USA in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean," he said. </p>

Jeff Bezos predicts that people will one day be born in space and will 'visit Earth the way you visit Yellowstone National Park'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A space rock with a peculiar orbit may be a floating piece of the moon.</li><li>Scientists had thought moon rocks weren't able to stay in orbit after a meteorite blast.</li></ul><p>A chunk of the moon that may have broken away from the lunar surface millions of years ago appears to be orbiting our planet.</p><p>The 'quasi-satellite,' named Kamo`oalewa, has baffled scientists for decades due, in part, to its peculiar orbit.</p><p>The rock, which is between 120 and 300 feet wide, technically orbits the sun every year. But on its travels, it also keeps the Earth company, slowly spiraling around our planet as it barrels through space.</p><p>Now, researchers at the University of Arizona believe they have evidence that it was likely created by an ancient lunar collision.</p><p>The discovery could rewrite what we know about potentially dangerous space rocks and help better protect our planet from a future a impact.</p><h2>Kamoʻoalewa has been Earth's companion for at least a century</h2><p>"This small asteroid is caught in a little dance with Earth," Paul Chodas, a NASA Near-Earth Object scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, previously said in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/small-asteroid-is-earths-constant-companion">a blog post</a>.</p><p>The space rock "has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and it will continue to follow this pattern as Earth's companion for centuries to come," he added</p><div type="image" title="An annotated gif shows the asteroid circling the Earth on an elliptical shape as it also circles the sun." height="182" width="364" msid="104758664" hostid="261" sizebytes="2820"></div><p>This mesmerizing orbit, which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/small-asteroid-is-earths-constant-companion">poses no threat to Earth</a>, means Kamoʻoalewa qualifies as a rare "quasi-satellite."</p><p>A study in 2021, which analyzed the light bouncing off the rock, found it was made of components that were remarkably similar to the stuff that makes up the moon's surface.</p><p>But physicists tend to think moon objects shouldn't find stable orbits — rocks that have enough energy to escape the moon's pull should be grabbed by Earth's gravity and plummet to their doom, per a<a target="_blank" href="https://news.arizona.edu/story/researchers-probe-how-piece-moon-became-near-earth-asteroid"> press release</a> by the University of Arizona.</p><p>Now, a <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=845af6fe306d8387e5ea220a3668b8a5e473c606792cc5ca83d3ffcd734b5477&amp;postID=653b7eb7d5adb6e8ec7e1a65&amp;postSlug=puzzling-near-earth-asteroid-chunk-moon-dangerous-space-rocks-2023-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs43247-021-00303-7">new study</a>, published in the peer-reviewed journal Communications Earth &amp; Environment, seems to have cracked the mystery.</p><p>An advanced computer simulation, taking into account the properties of the sun, the moon, the Earth, and all other planets in the solar system, found that some lucky moon rocks could survive being blasted away from the lunar surface, provided they follow very specific rules.</p><p>Being blasted from the moon at about 1.5 miles per second is one of these rules, lending credence to the idea that this satellite was created by the impact of a meteorite.</p><div type="image" title="An artist illustration show the spray that would be caused by a meteorite hitting the surface of the moon." height="715" width="1140" msid="104758666" hostid="261" sizebytes="55434"></div><h2>The finding could change where we think potentially dangerous space rocks come from</h2><p>Scientists are constantly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-telescope-to-detect-deadly-asteroids-2019-9">monitoring the skies</a> for potentially dangerous space rocks — but they are very aware of their limitations.</p><p>Some of the smaller rocks, for instance, can fly under the radar. Others can be occluded by the sun, which blinds the equipment we use to scan the universe for potential threats.</p><p>So to predict where the rocks may appear, scientists calculate how these rocks move through space from their most likely origin. These are usually thought to be the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-new-horizons-spacecraft-sends-back-kuiper-belt-images-2018-2">Kuiper belt in the outer solar system</a>.</p><p>"This brings up the need to consider other origin scenarios, in particular, that it may have originated as a lunar fragment from a meteoroid impact on the moon," said study author Jose Daniel Castro-Cisneros, a PhD student at the University of Arizona, <a target="_blank" href="https://astronomycommunity.nature.com/posts/kamo-oalewa-could-be-an-ejected-fragment-of-the-moon">in a blog post</a>.</p><p>Space rocks like these also provide rare snapshots into the past of our solar system.</p><p>Because of its stable orbit around the Earth, it may be worth thinking about sending a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-predicts-exact-date-asteroid-hit-earth-atomic-bomb-bennu-2023-9">mission</a> to Kamoʻoalewa to understand more about our longtime neighbor, said Castro Cisneros.</p>

A mysterious rock orbiting Earth appears to be a chunk of the moon that was blasted away by a meteorite 

<keyword id="1487608" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samsung-Display">Samsung Display</keyword> dominated the <keyword id="11003882" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-smartphone-display-panel-market">global smartphone display panel market</keyword> last year, a report showed on Friday, as it posted record revenue amid the pandemic.<br /><br />The affiliate of <keyword id="135365" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samsung-Electronics">Samsung Electronics</keyword>, the world's largest smartphone producer, represented half of the worldwide smartphone panel market last year in terms of revenue, according to market researcher <keyword id="192897" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Strategy-Analytics">Strategy Analytics</keyword>.<br /><br />The global smartphone display panel market grew 7 per cent on-year to $43 billion in 2020, reports Yonhap news agency.<br /><br />Samsung Display was followed by China's BOE Technology Group Co. with a 15 per cent share, followed by its South Korean rival LG Display Co. with an 8 per cent share, Strategy Analytics data showed.<br /><br />"Samsung Display achieved record smartphone panel revenue due to the strong design wins across key devices," said Jeffrey Mathews, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics. "As OLED demand increases, the vendor will face increased competition from LG Display, BOE Technology, Visionox and <keyword id="150734" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="TCL">TCL</keyword> CSOT."<br /><br />Strategy Analytics predicted display panel procurement by smartphone makers to be steady through 2021, driven by 5G momentum and high-end display technologies, such as flexible OLED. It also expected LCD displays' share to trail behind that of OLED displays in the smartphone panel market.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/asteroid-apophis-wont-be-hitting-earth-for-at-least-another-century/articleshow/81719171.cms">‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis won’t be crashing into Earth for at least another century</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/making-vaccines-available-to-indians-may-not-be-enough-it-depends-on-how-judiciously-we-employ-them/articleshow/81720507.cms">Making vaccines available to Indians may not be enough, it depends on how judiciously we employ them</a><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/tata-group-stocks-soar-in-trade-as-ratan-tata-prevails-in-the-legal-battle-with-cyrus-mistry-at-indias-supreme-court/articleshow/81703478.cms"><strong>All Tata Group stocks soar in trade as Ratan Tata prevails in the legal battle with Cyrus Mistry at India's Supreme Court</strong></a><br />

Samsung dominates 2020 smartphone panel market with 50% share, says report

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-launching-artemis-mega-rocket-orion-spaceship-around-the-moon-2022-8">NASA's</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-artemis-megarocket-launches-orion-spaceship-toward-moon-2022-11">new Orion spaceship</a> is returning from its first flight to the moon on Sunday.</li><li>The 50th anniversary of the last Apollo astronaut moonwalk is Wednesday. Nobody has been to the moon since.</li></ul><p>NASA is about to receive its new Orion spaceship, returning from its first trip around the moon, just days before the 50th anniversary of the last Apollo moonwalk.</p><p>Nobody has set foot on the moon since December 14, 1972, when astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt conducted the last moonwalk of the Apollo program. But NASA built Orion to send astronauts back into lunar orbit and, as early as 2025, link up with SpaceX's Starship to land astronauts on the moon.</p><div type="image" title="astronaut in spacesuit sits on lunar rover vehicle platform with wheels on the moon" height="2249" width="3000" msid="93818612" hostid="261"></div><p>First Orion has to prove it can safely fly there and back, which is why NASA is flying this first mission, called Artemis I, with no humans on board. The spacehip will undergo its biggest test on Sunday: the fiery plummet through Earth's atmosphere, to an ocean splashdown. If it succeeds, NASA plans to put astronauts on its next flight around the moon.</p><p>"It's important that this initiative now succeed. We've tried two other times — administrations have tried — and they've been stillborn," Schmitt <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apollo-astronauts-react-nasa-trump-2024-moon-landing-plan-2019-6">told Insider in 2019</a>, after the Trump administration accelerated the new moon-landing timeline to 2024. (The goal has since been pushed to 2025.)</p><div type="image" title="nasa astronaut victor glover looks up inside a rocket assembly building" height="2996" width="3987" msid="93818614" hostid="261"></div><p>As early as 2004, former President George Bush was setting goals to return astronauts to the moon. According to those plans, it should have happened by 2020, maybe as early as 2015. Some of the delays have been technical. SLS, the cornerstone of the new Artemis lunar program, is 12 years and more than $20 billion in the making — twice its original timeline and budget.</p><p>But according to astronauts and NASA administrators, the main reason it's taken so long to launch a new moon mission has nothing to do with science or technology. The biggest obstacles: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">lack of budget and political will</a>.</p><h2>Returning to the moon was a hard sell in Washington</h2><div type="image" title="flag moon buzz aldrin apollo 11 astronaut planting nasa 371257main_Flag_full" height="1489" width="1986" msid="93818617" hostid="261"></div><p>In order to fund a new NASA moonshot, Congress and the president had to doll out funding.</p><p>"Spaceflight is inherently risky, and spaceflight is hard," Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, told Insider in August, when asked why it's taken so long to return to the moon. Before assuming the head role at NASA, in 2021, Nelson was a senator from Florida and a longtime fixture in Congressional committees on space.</p><p>Nelson's predecessor was more direct.</p><div type="image" title="NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion capsule atop, slowly makes its way down the crawlerway at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 17, 2022." height="1280" width="853" msid="93818621" hostid="261"></div><p>"The program took too long and it costs too much money," Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator under former President Donald Trump, told reporters in 2019.</p><p>"If it wasn't for the political risk, we would be on the moon right now," Bridenstine said, adding, "In fact, we would probably be on Mars."</p><p>As a result, politicians haven't generally allocated the funding NASA would need to get back to the moon in the near future.</p><p>Lack of public interest hasn't helped matters. In 2018, a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/17/how-americans-see-the-future-of-space-exploration-50-years-after-the-first-moon-landing/">Pew survey</a> found that most Americans prioritize climate research, monitoring hazardous asteroids, and basic space science over sending astronauts to the moon or Mars. While 72% of respondents thought it was "essential" for the US to maintain its world-leader status in space exploration, only 13% said it should be a "top priority" to send astronauts to the moon. Last year, a <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2021/02/25/space-force-travel-exploration-poll/">Morning Consult</a> survey got similar results.</p><p>"Manned exploration is the most expensive space venture and, consequently, the most difficult for which to obtain political support," Walter Cunningham, an Apollo 7 astronaut, said during <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings&amp;ContentRecord_id=2b9c03d5-a170-4144-b8be-035bb36ca71b&amp;ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5-407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&amp;Group_id=b06c39af-e033-4cba-9221-de668ca1978a">congressional testimony in 2015</a>.</p><h2>New presidents can give NASA whiplash</h2><div type="image" title="donald trump holds up a small astronaut figurine" height="1666" width="2222" msid="93818623" hostid="261"></div><p>It doesn't help that new presidents often change NASA's plans and goals. As a result, NASA can get administrative whiplash, being ordered to drop certain projects or refocus on others every four to eight years. That makes it harder to commit to expensive projects that will take longer than one administration.</p><p>"Why would you believe what any president said about a prediction of something that was going to happen two administrations in the future?" Chris Hadfield, a former astronaut, previously told Insider. "That's just talk."</p><p>In 2004, for example, the Bush administration tasked NASA with coming up with a way to replace the Space Shuttle, which was set to retire, and also return to the moon. The agency came up with the Constellation program to land astronauts on the moon using a rocket called Ares and a spaceship called Orion. NASA spent $9 billion over five years designing, building, and testing hardware for that human-spaceflight program.</p><p>Yet after President Barack Obama took office — and the Government Accountability Office released a report about NASA's <a href="https://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09844.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inability to estimate</a> Constellation's cost — Obama pushed to <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=62ffbebf507e5b5d8c0656c5&amp;site=bi&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fid%2F35209628%2Fns%2Ftechnology_and_science-space%2Ft%2Fnasa-grieves-over-canceled-program%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrap the program</a> and signed off on the SLS rocket instead.</p><p>"Accelerating something that ambitious is a real challenge, and it takes commitment and dollars, and that's what's going to be required," Rusty Schweickart, an Apollo 9 astronaut, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apollo-astronauts-react-nasa-trump-2024-moon-landing-plan-2019-6">told Insider in 2019</a>.</p><h2>Money, money, money comes from Congress</h2><div type="image" title="bill nelson points up while testifying to congress into a microphone" height="1668" width="2223" msid="93818627" hostid="261"></div><p>In the end, a lot of what NASA can and can't do boils down to money.</p><p>"NASA's portion of the federal budget peaked at 4% in 1965," <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/fcb15c53-c53c-4c08-bbe0-cd7b67f5c5ee/4EC71FECD067A9A32FE09065D54FCA26.cunningham-testimony.pdf">Cunningham told Congress</a> in 2015. "For the past 40 years it has remained below 1%, and for the last 15 years it has been driving toward 0.4% of the federal budget."</p><p>Referring to Mars missions and a return to the moon, Cunningham said at the time, "NASA's budget is way too low to do all the things that we've talked about."</p><p>This year, though, President Joe Biden <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/if-funded-nasas-budget-request-removes-excuses-for-further-artemis-delays/">requested</a> that Congress grant a whopping $25.9 billion for NASA in 2023, including an increase from $6.8 billion to $7.5 billion for the Artemis program.</p><p>According to <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/if-funded-nasas-budget-request-removes-excuses-for-further-artemis-delays/">Ars Technica</a>, that means the new moonshot could have enough money to meet its goals for the first time ever.</p><p><em>This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on August 27, 2022.</em></p>

It's been 50 years since the last moonwalk. NASA astronauts explain why it took so long.

<p><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></strong></span></p><ul><li><strong>President Trump has signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017.</strong></li><li><strong>The new law calls to give NASA a $19.5 billion budget and asks NASA to reach Mars by 2033.</strong></li><li><strong>However, the law leaves out earth <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>, which the Trump administration intends to cut heavily.</strong></li></ul><p>For the first time in nearly seven years, the US government has passed a new long-term vision for NASA's future.</p><p>President Donald Trump signed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/" target="_blank">NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017</a>, a bill also known as S.442, into law in the Oval Office on March 21.</p><p>The Senate and House had collaborated on the document for months, and it requests a $19.5 billion-a-year budget for the space agency. (NASA received <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-budget-increase-congress-2015-12">$19.3 billion in 2016</a>, or 0.5% of the total <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-us-republicans-pass-38-trillion-2016-budget-2015-5">federal budget</a>.)</p><p>In an image that Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/844240534562594817">tweeted</a> on Tuesday, the president said he's "delighted to sign this bill reaffirming our national commitment to the core mission of NASA: human space exploration, space science, and technology."</p><h2>End of the atmospheric era?</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>However, that core mission is missing something that has been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nasa-earth-science-thanksnasa-2016-12">a part of the space agency for more than 58 years</a>: <strong>earth science</strong>.</p><p>The <a href="http://history.nasa.gov/spaceact.html">1958 document</a> that formed NASA called upon the new space agency to contribute to the "expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere" - a mission that NASA, as Business Insider's Rafi Letzter has reported, "carried out ... with gusto under six Republican administrations and five Democratic ones."</p><p>The new law doesn't even mention earth science, which is troublesome considering what Trump's administration has already laid out in its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-funding-2018-trump-budget-2017-3">proposed budget for NASA</a> released last week. </p><p>The budget would cut several major space agency initiatives, including the Office of Education, and seeks to terminate the <a href="https://pace.gsfc.nasa.gov/">Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem</a> (PACE), <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/oco-3">Orbital Carbon Observatory-3</a> (OCO-3), <a href="https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/dscovr-deep-space-climate-observatory">Deep Space Climate Observatory</a> (DSCOVR), and <a href="https://clarreo.larc.nasa.gov/about-pathfinder.html">CLARREO Pathfinder</a> missions.</p><p>These four satellites allow scientists to monitor and predict the behavior of Earth's weather, shifting climates, ocean ecosystems, and other vital aspects of our planet. They help save peoples' lives, protect wildlife, and prepare America and other nations for long-term changes.</p><p>However, these things may or may not come to pass.</p><p>While S.442 is now a law, a <a href="https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/federal-budget-process/">long and complex budgeting process</a> remains before NASA knows what its actual funding levels are for fiscal year 2018, which runs from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Trump's proposed budget says NASA should receive $19.1 billion per year, or $400 million less than Congress' law calls for. </p><h2>What the new law says</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The law asks NASA to create a plan for getting humans "near or on the surface of Mars in the 2030s."</p><p>It also calls on the space agency to continue developing the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-trump-asks-nasa-to-explore-putting-crew-on-rockets-debut-flight-2017-2" target="_blank">Space Launch System</a> (SLS) - a behemoth rocket - and the Orion space capsule in order to eventually go to the moon, Mars, and beyond.</p><p>Trump has expressed <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/596967076746698752">support for a crewed exploration of Mars</a>, and in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-inauguration-speech-transcript-full-text-video-2017-1">his inauguration speech</a> he said he's "ready to unlock the mysteries of space." Administration officials, meanwhile, have said they want NASA to <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/donald-trump-space-war-234829">return to the moon in the 2020s</a>.</p><p>The American Astronomical Society has a <a href="https://aas.org/posts/blog/2017/01/senates-nasa-transition-authorization-act">convenient breakdown of the $19.5 billion</a> in the bill, including funding for human space exploration, space-station operations, science, and more.</p><p>Here are some notable titles, articles, and sections of the 146-page document:</p><ul><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-id463fa6bf-c0b6-4194-9f02-4d5ef4b0023c">Assuring Core Capabilities For Exploration</a>"</strong> - calls for several missions: an uncrewed launch of SLS and Orion in 2018, followed by a crewed mission to the moon in 2021, and further trips to the moon and Mars after that date.</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-idaef262aa-11c3-4bfe-9de5-ddf90775b6fd">Journey to Mars</a>"</strong> - asks NASA for a roadmap to send people to Mars by 2033; also steers the space agency away from pursuing the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nasa-mars-sample-return-mission-2016-12">Asteroid Redirect Mission</a> (a plan to capture an asteroid, tow it into orbit around Earth, and have astronauts explore the space rock).</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-idad45be9e-5f44-4dca-a9fd-703bbe050e07">Human Space Flight And Exploration Goals And Objectives</a>"</strong> - says it's the mission of NASA to "to expand permanent human presence beyond low-Earth orbit."</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-id412CCAC392684DF38DA604AFAAF99EF7">Aeronautics</a>"</strong> - calls on NASA to be a leader in aviation and hypersonic aircraft research; also asks the space agency to look into supersonic-aircraft research that would "open new global markets and enable new transportation capabilities."</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-ide894a3e8-1a43-4b7a-b968-9c6d23baa061">Mars 2020 rover</a>"</strong> - Congress backs up NASA's plan to use the car-sized rover to "help determine whether life previously existed on that planet."</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-id1a85f499-36ce-49b6-bbd2-8601d54cc030">Europa</a>"</strong> - approves of NASA's plan to send an orbiting satellite to Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa, which may have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">a warm subsurface ocean</a> (and possibly host alien life).</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-ide3d77f1899af40abaf463fbb42d61e51">Congressional declaration of policy and purpose</a></strong>" - amends previous laws to make it part of NASA's mission to "search for life's origin, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe."</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-idcf0174ee5e6f4e9f92a3357c1c61998c">Extrasolar planet exploration strategy</a>"</strong> - asks NASA to explain how it will use the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/proxima-b-habitable-atmosphere-jwst-2016-9">James Webb Space Telescope</a> and other instruments to hunt for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-like-planets-seven-trappist-1-system-2017-02">exoplanets</a>.</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-ida6fd9494856c4bd18f6b483e4ae44ae9">Near-Earth objects</a>"</strong> - asks NASA to accelerate its program to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/neocam-mission-not-fully-funded-nasa-2017-1">find killer asteroids</a> in space.</li><li><strong>"<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/442/text#toc-id5f58ccb21724450690f053379a514f89">Radioisotope power systems</a>"</strong> - implores NASA to deliver a report on how it plans to make plutonium-238 - an exceedingly rare nuclear fuel for deep-space robots - and detail what its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">nuclear-powered exploration plans</a> are.</li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-announcement-7-earth-sized-planets-star-trappist-1-water-aliens-2017-2">Astronomers discovered a solar system with 7 Earth-sized planets - and it's the perfect place to search for alien life</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="owcmZ4OTE6j8GFBLaQ9R3RhDvf0rcxeS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

President Trump just signed a law that maps out NASA's long-term future - but a critical element is missing

<p>Last week NASA released <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/journey-to-mars-next-steps-20151008_508.pdf">Journey to Mars</a>, an inspirational 36-page report that outlines the organization's plans to send people to Mars.</p><p>The space agency seemed fairly proud of its report:</p><p><div></div></p><p>The document includes plans to capture an asteroid, build a deep-space laboratory, develop new space-travel technologies, and learn how humans can live and work on the Martian surface.</p><p><strong>Despite its grand vision, however, NASA's Mars opus is missing two critical things: dollar signs and deadlines.</strong> And lawmakers have a big problem with that.</p><p>The recent announcement of the discovery of <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-confirms-liquid-water-on-mars">liquid water on Mars</a> and the <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/the-martian-movie-facts-guide-2015-10">sci-fi blockbuster "The Martian</a>" have put NASA's ambitions to explore the red planet under a spotlight - and exposed some <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/nasa-mars-program-in-the-martian-2015-10">gaping holes</a> in the space agency's plans. NASA has stated multiple times that it will send humans to Mars by the 2030s, but this latest report does little to show how it will actually accomplish that.</p><p>Congress doesn't necessarily believe NASA's aloofness is its own fault, since the space agency is largely directed by the Presdient. Last week during a <a href="https://science.house.gov/news/press-releases/hearing-examines-impact-president-s-budget-deep-space-exploration">House Subcommittee on Space hearing</a>, members of Congress criticized both the report and the Obama Administration's lack of financial support for NASA.</p><p>Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) wondered how a plan called "Journey to Mars" could fail to include a budget:</p><p>"This sounds good, but it is actually a journey to nowhere until we have that budget and we have the schedule and we have the deadlines," Smith said during the hearing.</p><p>He went on to slam the Obama Administration for cutting $440 million from NASA's Mars program, which includes the gigantic <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html">Space Launche System (SLS) rocket</a> and <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/index.html">Orion space capsule</a> - both of which are designed to ferry humans to Mars some day:</p><p>"I hope the administration will change its posture ... [T]heir proposals to cut SLS and Orion every single year is not helping us achieve the great goals that most Americans want to achieve in space," Smith said.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Doug Cooke, former associate administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, also said during the hearing that NASA's budget problems are largely coming from the administration, and not from Congress:<p>"To advance these programs, Congress has consistently passed budgets each year that are significantly greater than the President's budget request," Cooke said during the hearing. "It has been clear Congress intends to follow through with this necessary funding, yet the administration continues to ask for less."</p><p>The budget isn't the only problem we need to solve before we actually see a realistic Mars plan, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) pointed out during the hearing.</p><p>"It's not just a question of more money - it's giving NASA some predictability as to when that money will actually show up," Johnson said. "If this Congress is looking for reasons why NASA's exploration program faces potential delays, we need look no further than ourselves."</p><p>If NASA never knows how much funding it will get year to year, she argued, it becomes nearly impossible to come up with a specific, long-term plan for a journey to Mars. Doing so will take decades of work and require a whole suite of new technology - and steady cash to fund its development.</p><p>Earlier this year, NASA announced its decision to push back the first launch test of SLS from 2017 to 2018, and the first manned test flight of Orion from 2021 to 2023.</p><p>Obama's 2016 budget request for NASA would cut funding even more if Congress approves it, <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/technology/256580-gop-warns-of-journey-to-nowhere-at-nasa">according to The Hill</a>.</p><p>You can watch some clips from the hearing below:</p><p><div></div></p><p><div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-zimmer-contaminating-mars-bacteria-viruses-earth-2015-10">If life exists on Mars, it could pose a problem for our exploration of the planet</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="lwdTcyeDpUTqolRQBKiMsOvqHxXrqiyI" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "asteroid 2021 predictions" and got 8 results

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It's been 50 years since the last moonwalk. NASA astronauts explain why it took so long.

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President Trump just signed a law that maps out NASA's long-term future - but a critical element is missing

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