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<ul><li>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are meeting in Rome next week to discuss their plan for <keyword id="8055800" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="planetary-defence">planetary defence</keyword> against asteroids.</li><li>The two-part mission dubbed <keyword id="3084215" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Asteroid-impact">Asteroid Impact</keyword> Deflection Assessment (AIDA) plans to collide with asteroid Didymoon — the smaller of the Didymos’ binary system.</li><li>NASA is in charge of conducting the actually impact while ESA will analyse the aftermath.</li></ul>Hundreds of asteroids are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/two-asteroids-bigger-than-the-japan-tsunamis-are-coming-eerily-close-to-earth-today/articleshow/70870605.cms">whizzing past Earth</a>. Thanks to satellites and telescopes watching the skies, we know more about them than ever before — including the threats they pose. To counter incoming asteroids, the European Space Agency (<a href="https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Safety/Hera/Europe_and_US_teaming_up_for_asteroid_deflection">ESA</a>) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are teaming up to deflect an asteroid as proof-of-concept for planetary defense. They’re going to double tag the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/another-pair-of-asteroids-is-going-to-whiz-past-earth-on-14-september-bigger-faster-but-further-away/articleshow/70873664.cms">dual asteroids</a> dubbed Didymoon and Didymos. The aim is to knock out the smaller asteroid — Didymoon — and then analyse the crash site. 
 <div type="image" title="didymoon_edited" msid="70957190" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Simulated image of the Didymos system, derived from photometric lightcurve and radar data. The primary body is about 780 meters in diameter and the moonlet is approximately 160 meters in size. They are separated by just over a kilometer.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 ESA, NASA and other researchers from around the world are meeting up in Rome next week to check in on their progress for the mission dubbed Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA). NASA is going to collide with the asteroid AIDA has two parts to it that are divided between the ESA and NASA. The American space agency will be using their Double Asteroid Impact Test (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/for-an-asteroid-to-wipe-out-humans-it-has-to-be-bigger-than-the-one-that-killed-the-dinosaurs/articleshow/70893317.cms">DART</a>) spacecraft to collide with the Didymoon asteroid. 
 <div type="image" title="asteroid plan_edited" msid="70957201" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;DART plan to collide with Didymoon&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 DART will travel at a speed of 6.6 kilometers per second to break the space rock into smaller pieces with help from its onboard camera — DRACO — and autonomous navigation software. An Italian CubeSat, LICIACube, will be flying alongside DART to record the impact and send the data back to the on-ground team. ESA will analyse the asteroid impact ESA will then tag in to analyse the asteroid post-impact to get more details on the asteroid's new size and the resulting impact crater. 
 
 <div type="Youtube" id="8PIwxKma1tw" title="Hera: Our planetary defence mission" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8PIwxKma1tw/mqdefault.jpg"></div>



 ESA is calling its part in the mission ‘Hera’, which is also be accompanied CubeSats for a closeup survey of the asteroid impact’s aftermath. This will be the first time that an asteroid will be subject to a radar probe. 
	
 <div type="image" title="hera_edited" msid="70957224" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Representative image of Hera analysing impact&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 The aim of analysing the asteroid after the impact to figure out if the planetary defence mechanism can be made more efficient. DART can do it alone, but it’s better with Hera "DART can perform its mission without Hera – the effect of its impact on the asteroid’s orbit will be measurable using Earth ground-based observatories alone," explains Ian Carnelli, managing Hera for ESA. 
	
 <div type="image" title="hera2_edited" msid="70957258" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Representative image of Hera approaching Didymoon&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 "But flying the two missions together will greatly magnify their overall knowledge return. Hera will in fact gather essential data to turn this one-off experiment into an asteroid deflection technique applicable to other asteroids," Carnelli explains. It’s going to take more than a year to reach the Didymoon The launch window for the NASA’s DART spacecraft to launch will begin in late July 2021. NASA is planning to launch from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California abroad SpaceX’s Falcon 9. 
	
 <div type="image" title="aida impact_edited" msid="70957314" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Representative image of how AIDA impact will be seen&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 The plan is for DART to reach the Didymoon in September 2022 when the binary asteroids will be around 11 million kilometers from Earth. The AIDA workshop next week will share progress on the DART spacecraft and collate information on the targeted asteroids that will fly by Earth on 7 October 2022. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elon-musk-says-we-have-no-defence-against-asteroid-god-of-chaos/articleshow/70748251.cms">Elon Musk says we have no defence against asteroid ‘God of Chaos'</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-asteroid-nearly-half-the-size-of-mount-everest-might-be-on-a-collision-course-for-earth-in-less-than-a-year/articleshow/70698774.cms">An asteroid nearly half the size of Mount Everest might be on a collision course for Earth in less than a year</a> <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">The last major asteroid to hit Earth destroyed 500 square kilometers — and it could have been much worse</a>

NASA and the European Space Agency are meeting to defend the Earth against asteroids

<ul><li>Apophis, the '<keyword id="8002265" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="god-of-chaos">God of Chaos</keyword>' asteroid will be passing by Earth on April 13, 2029.</li><li>The asteroid could do considerable damage if it were to collide into Earth. </li><li>According to Billionaire <keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword>, CEO and Founder of Tesla and SpaceX, the asteroid is coming and we have defence.</li></ul>Apophis, also known as the 'God of Chaos' asteroid, will be making its way to Earth in ten years. The odds of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-is-asteroid-meteorite-and-meteor/articleshow/70654013.cms">head-on collision</a> with the 340 meter asteroid is one in 45,000. But as it passes by, it will all but brush with the Earth’s surface, coming as close as 30,000 kilometers. <div type="image" title="PIA23195_hires (1)_edited" msid="70748398" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Trajectory of Apophis as it passes by Earth on April 13, 2029&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 Should the ‘God of Chaos’ choose to shift even a little bit, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-happens-when-an-asteroid-actually-hits-earth/articleshow/70732006.cms">resulting impact will be catastrophic.</a> The after-effects will dwarf in comparison to any other asteroid that has ever hit Earth in human history. We currently have no defence Scientists speculate that it's only a matter of time before an asteroid hits Earth. The latest one to join the bandwagon is billionaire <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/its-been-100-years-since-weve-seen-anybody-like-elon-musk-heres-why-thats-so-disorienting/articleshow/69813958.cms">Elon Musk</a>, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. "A big rock will hit Earth eventually and we currently have no defence," he said commenting on God of Chaos. <div type="twitter" handle="elonmusk" handlename="Elon Musk" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1163316023023427584/8lXw0O2Y_normal.jpg" favoritecount="36171" retweetcount="4190" status="Great name! Wouldn’t worry about this particular one, but a big rock will hit Earth eventually &amp; we currently have… https://t.co/uTndl0Fvf6" createdat="1566163586000" id="1163200504811249664"></div>

 He is not wrong. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has instruments in place to study and protect Earth from an asteroid that could potentially be dangerous. But, it has no actual protocols in place to defend the planet in case an asteroid is on a collision course. NASA only announced its first Planetary Defence Technology Demonstration earlier this year. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will be the space agency's first mission to demonstrate its plans for how to defend itself. Earth's impact on the asteroid Most people are usually worried about how an asteroid will impact Earth but few think about the impact Earth would have on an asteroid. The God of Chaos, for instance, won't be immune to the effects of a close encounter with Earth. The planet's gravitational field will definitely have an impact on the asteroid's orbit and could change the way Apophis spins, according to scientists at NASA. Interestingly, the gravitational pull could also result in surface change on Apophis and cause an avalanche. An opportunity for science It's not uncommon for asteroids between 5-10 meters in size to pass by Earth but asteroids the size of Apophis are rare. They are fewer in number and don't normally cut this close to Earth. <div type="image" title="neo_edited" msid="70748377" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Famous fly-bys of Near Earth Objects (NEOs)&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>
 "We'll observe the asteroid with both optical and radar telescopes. With radar observations, we might be able to see surface details that are only a few meters in size," said Marin Brozovic, a radar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-other-scientists-believe-asteroids-will-eventually-hit-earth/articleshow/70644547.cms">It might not be 'dinosaur destroying' but it's only a matter of time before an asteroid hits Earth</a> <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> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-asteroid-nearly-half-the-size-of-mount-everest-might-be-on-a-collision-course-for-earth-in-less-than-a-year/articleshow/70698774.cms">An asteroid nearly half the size of Mount Everest might be on a collision course for Earth in less than a year</a>

Elon Musk says we have no defence against asteroid ‘God of Chaos'

An <keyword id="6549794" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="asteroid">asteroid</keyword> the size of an airplane is set to cross the Earth's orbit on Wednesday, according to <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword> which expects that the space rock will not cause any harm to our home planet. As it crosses Earth's orbit, the near-Earth asteroid named 2020 RK2 will be about 38,30,238 kilometres from Earth. In terms of size, the asteroid is about 80 metres wide (which can be as big as Boeing 747) and travelling at 6.68km every second. NASA last month announced a new memorandum of understanding with the US Department of Defence that commits the two organisations to broad collaboration in areas including human spaceflight, US space policy, space transportation, standards and best practices for safe operations in space, scientific research, and planetary defence. "NASA is tasked with discovering and tracking near-Earth #asteroids. <keyword id="1710347" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deep-Space">Deep space</keyword> survey and tracking technology is an area of collaboration between @NASA and @SpaceForceDOD," NASA Asteroid Watch, the Planetary Defence Coordination Office of the US space agency, said in a tweet. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/tcs-infosys-wipro-and-hcl-tech-expected-to-announce-more-deals-more-money-and-more-savings-in-second-quarter/articleshow/78507656.cms">TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech expected to announce more deals in the second quarter</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/mpc-to-meet-tomorrow-as-new-external-members-come-on-board/articleshow/78510248.cms">MPC to meet tomorrow as new external members come on board</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/cinema-halls-to-reopen-from-october-15-these-are-the-guidelines-and-sops-to-be-followed-at-all-cinema-halls-/articleshow/78508895.cms">Government issues guidelines for re-opening cinema halls — 50% capacity, one-seat distance, compulsory masks and other measures</a>

Airplane-size asteroid to cross Earth's orbit tomorrow

<ul><li>Ufologolist Michael Horn claims that the '<keyword id="8002265" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="god-of-chaos">God of Chaos</keyword>' will strike Europe, the area between the North Sea and the Black Sea, when it visits Earth in 2029.</li><li>Horn believes the impact with crack the Earth open and let out massive gases, which would results in deaths within the immediate area.</li><li>NASA, on the other hand, claims that there is only a one in 45,000 chance that Apophis will be crash into the planet.</li></ul>The asteroid Aphophis — nicknamed the ‘God of Choas’ — will be zooming past the Earth in 2029. And if it crashes into planet instead, it will be somewhere over Europe, according to Michael Horn — a research scientist and representative for Billy Meier, a ufologist. Horn told the <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1187996/Asteroid-NASA-latest-warning-news-God-of-Chaos-Apophis-update-Earth-impact-99942">Express</a> that he has the impact area narrowed down to between the Black Sea, which is on the eastern end of Europe, and the North Sea, which is in the northwest bordering the UK, Denmark and Norway. 
 <div type="image" title="asteroidmap_edited" msid="71537133" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Area between the North Sea and the Black Sea where Michael Horn believes the asteroid will strike&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 He also dismisses NASA’s claim that the likelihood of a collision is one in 45,000. He insists it’s a certainty. The potential impact would be like 880 million tons of TNT exploding simultaneously. This would make it 65,000 times more destructive than the Hiroshima nuclear disaster. Earth will crack open Horn believes that not only will the asteroid crash into the Earth, it will also crack it open. The split in the planet’s crust will release gases resulting in the death of millions in the immediate area, he told the <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1187996/Asteroid-NASA-latest-warning-news-God-of-Chaos-Apophis-update-Earth-impact-99942">Express.</a> Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, doesn’t believe that an impact is likely but does believe that the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elon-musk-says-we-have-no-defence-against-asteroid-god-of-chaos/articleshow/70748251.cms">Earth has no defence</a> in such an event. "A big rock will hit Earth eventually and we currently have no defence," he said commenting on ‘God of Chaos’. <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7390">NASA</a> feels that the asteroid’s trajectory will definitely be affected by its close encounter will Earth and might even cause avalanches on the space object’s surface. The planet is no stranger to asteroid fly-bys but Apophis isn’t like other asteroids. Discovered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 2004, it’s bigger than most asteroids with a diameter of 340 meters. And, as it passes by, the ‘God of Chaos’ will be a little over 30,000 kilometers from the Earth’s surface — a distance at which many spacecraft’s orbit the planet. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elon-musk-says-we-have-no-defence-against-asteroid-god-of-chaos/articleshow/70748251.cms">Elon Musk says we have no defence against asteroid ‘God of Chaos'</a>

Ufologist claims the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid will strike somewhere over Europe

<ul><li>For an asteroid to actually destroy life on Earth, it will have to be bigger than the one that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct. </li><li>The fact that humans are smarter gives them an edge over the dinosaurs when it comes to detecting and avoiding extinction level events — like an asteroid impact. </li><li>It would still be a set back for human history where people would either have to hide deep underground or survive eating shellfish. </li></ul>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-earth-this-year/articleshow/70686096.cms">large number of asteroids</a> are hovering all around the Earth, and we might get hit too sooner or later. But it will not be the Armageddon that everyone fears or the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-other-scientists-believe-asteroids-will-eventually-hit-earth/articleshow/70644547.cms">end of human life</a> as we know it. "In the order of things people should be worried about, <keyword id="3106647" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="near-earth-objects">Near Earth Objects</keyword> isn't highest on the list," states Lindley Johnson, the Planetary Defence Officer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the recently published book <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=qFycDwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT45&amp;lpg=PT45&amp;dq=bryan+walsh+lindley+johnson&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=YV2WlASZOq&amp;sig=ACfU3U13mVhs1EQYXGnJs0Q1ug3A1C1EyA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiu-f7w4afkAhVanI8KHeTGBvwQ6AEwAnoECAkQAg#v=onepage&amp;q=bryan%20walsh%20lindley%20johnson&amp;f=false">End Times</a>. "But it does have the potential to be the most devastating natural disaster known to man," explains Johnson. And, it's only a matter of time. "It's a 100% certain that we're going to get hit, but we're not 100% certain when," B612 President Danica Remy told NBC. Humans survived when the Sun was blocked out There is evidence that a kilometer long asteroid <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/525531/new-clues-from-earth-s-most-elusive-impact-crater?redirectedFrom=fulltext">crashed into Southeast Asia</a> around 800,000 years ago — and our ancestors had survived it. The asteroid did impact human evolution and blocked out the Sun for years with the dust it threw up. Yet, humanity was not wiped out. Scientists are yet to determine exactly how humans managed to survive and they're hoping that finding the exact impact site of the crater will help. Humans are smarter than dinosaurs The fact that humans are smarter than dinosaurs gives them an edge when it comes to surviving an asteroid impact. "So long as we retain at least stone age technology, there isn't much that could make us extinct," Robert Walker, a scientist and mathematician, told Science 2.0. It's possible that humans would go back to beach-combing or surviving on shellfish but they would survive, according to Walker. Another way to survive an asteroid impact would be to go deep underground to survive what would be a nuclear winter — similar to what follows a nuclear war, according to <a href="https://www.livescience.com/8825-asteroid-strike-force-humans-twilight-existence.html">Elisabetta Peirazzo</a>, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. NASA is working on a mission to survive asteroids As of now, there are a lot of asteroids whizzing past Earth — some of them a little too close to comfort — but none are on a direct collision course for the planet according to NASA's Planetary Defence Coordination Office (PDCO). If an asteroid were to shift its course, space agencies have telescopes on ground and in space, keeping an eye out. NASA is currently working on its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elon-musk-says-we-have-no-defence-against-asteroid-god-of-chaos/articleshow/70748251.cms">defend the planet</a> against any extinction level asteroids that might come its way. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-other-scientists-believe-asteroids-will-eventually-hit-earth/articleshow/70644547.cms">It might not be 'dinosaur destroying' but it's only a matter of time before an asteroid hits Earth</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/another-pair-of-asteroids-is-going-to-whiz-past-earth-on-14-september-bigger-faster-but-further-away/articleshow/70873664.cms">Another pair of asteroids is going to whiz past Earth on 14 September — Bigger, faster but further away</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-is-asteroid-meteorite-and-meteor/articleshow/70654013.cms">An asteroid only turns into a meteor if it falls to Earth</a> <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>

For an asteroid to wipe out humans, it has to be bigger than the one that killed the dinosaurs

<ul><li>Dual asteroids are rare and even more infrequent when they are big in size.</li><li>Asteroid 467317 (2000 QW7) is as big as the Shanghai Tower — the second tallest building in the world.</li><li>The two asteroids are set to pass by Earth in the same 24-hour window on 14 September 2019.</li></ul>Two asteroids already whizzed past Earth this week and now, two more are set to fly by on 14 September 2019. But this time around, the pair will be bigger and faster — but also further away. The first asteroid, which will be bigger than the Empire State Building and India’s own Statue of Unity, is set to whiz past Earth at a speed of 23,000 kilometers per hou. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) estimates that the asteroid dubbed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/3467317-2000-QW7/slideshow/70686174.cms">467317 (2000 QW7)</a> could be anywhere between 290 meters to 650 meters in diameter. So, at its largest, the asteroid measures around the same size as the Shanghai Tower — the second tallest building in the world. And, it won’t be alone. In the same 24-hour window, Asteroid <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/504800-2010-CO1/slideshow/70686170.cms">504800 (2010 CO1)</a>, estimated to be between 120 meters to 260 meters in diameter, will be flying past the planet at a speed of 51,696 kilometers per hour. Both them of them are going to be around 5.3 million kilometers from Earth as they make their visit. This is the second time in the span of a month that dual asteroids are whizzing past the planet. On 28 August 2019, two asteroids — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/two-asteroids-bigger-than-the-japan-tsunamis-are-coming-eerily-close-to-earth-today/articleshow/70870605.cms">2019 OU1 and 2019 QS</a>— flew past Earth within hours of each other. Don’t fear, but who’s gonna be there? NASA’s Center of Near Earth Object Studies is tracking both the asteroids and do not seem to pose any danger as of now. Should that change, NASA’s current defense plan against any incoming asteroids is the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) — which is still under development. Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of SpaceX, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elon-musk-says-we-have-no-defence-against-asteroid-god-of-chaos/articleshow/70748251.cms">opines</a> that, “A big rock will eventually hit Earth eventually and we currently have no defence.” In June, astronomers have already shown that in case an asteroid poses a threat — then can move people out of harm’s away in time. When asteroid 2019 MO was barrelling towards Earth on 22 June 2019, scientists at the University of Hawaii used the ATLAS and Pan-STARRS telescopes to detect the asteroid’s path. They were able to confirm that the asteroid would burn up in the atmosphere, over the ocean, 400 kilometers away from San Juan. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/historys-most-famous-science-satellites-have-grown-to-enormous-proportions/articleshow/49279291.cms">ATLAS</a>, which is actually two telescopes in Hawaii — one on Big Island and the other on Maui — scans the skies every two days for asteroids that could be heading towards Earth. It claims to be able to detect small asteroids 12 hours in advance and bigger asteroids will be on their radar days before they’re anywhere near Earth. See also: <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> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-is-asteroid-meteorite-and-meteor/articleshow/70654013.cms">An asteroid only turns into a meteor if it falls to Earth</a> <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">The last major asteroid to hit Earth destroyed 500 square kilometers — and it could have been much worse</a>

Another pair of asteroids is going to whiz past Earth on 14 September — Bigger, faster but further away

<ul><li>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (<keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>) has ruled out two potentially hazardous asteroids as a threat to Earth.</li><li>Asteroids 2010 CO1 and 2000 QW7, though large in size, are not a collision course for Earth.</li><li>But in little over a month, asteroid 1998 HL1 -- bigger than Burj Khalifa -- will be flying by.</li></ul>Two asteroids are coming awfully close the planet on 14 September 2019 but the Planetary Defence Coordination Office has ruled them out as a threat. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been tracking asteroid 504800 (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/504800-2010-CO1/slideshow/70686170.cms">2010 CO1</a>) and 467317 (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/3467317-2000-QW7/slideshow/70686174.cms">2000 QW7</a>). Its calculations show that there is no chance of these space rocks posing a threat to Earth. These aren’t small asteroids either. The first space rock, asteroid 2010 CO1, between 120 meters to 260 meters in diameter. That’s bigger than the tallest statue on Earth — the Statue of Liberty in India. The second one, asteroid 2000 QW7, is even bigger with a diameter of 290 meters to 650 meters. Even China’s Shanghai Tower falls short at 632 meters, even though it’s the tallest building in the country and the third tallest in the world. But, in just a little over a month, there’s an even bigger asteroid heading Earth’s way. On 25 October 2019, an asteroid named <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/162082-1998-HL1/slideshow/70686183.cms">162082 (1998 HL1)</a>, with its massive diameter of 440 meters to 990 meters, is scheduled to fly past the planet. The asteroid would be taller than the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, at its widest. Who’s got the speed? Asteroid 2010 CO1 is going to travelling at a speed of 51,696 kilometers per hour. But, asteroid 2000 QW7, will be slugging along at 23,112 kilometers per hour — less than half the speed of its counterpart. “Both of these asteroids are passing at about 14 lunar distances from the Earth, or about 3.5 million miles away, but small asteroids pass by Earth this close all the time,” said Lindley Johnson, a planetary defence officer for the Planetary Defence Coordination Office. October’s asteroid falls somewhere in between with a speed of 40,320 kilometers per hour but it will be twice as far away at a distance of 6.2 million kilometers. Earth is safe — for now NASA’s Asteroid Watch keeps an eye on all of these asteroids and has over 20,000 asteroids in its database. But only around 800 of these space rocks are actually considered to be ‘potentially hazardous’. If NASA does detect a change in their orbit at any time — and if that change poses a threat to Earth — it will flag it on the Torino scale. Depending on the threat level, the Torino scale measures the probability of an <keyword id="4678476" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Asteroid-hitting-Earth">asteroid hitting Earth</keyword> on a scale of 1 to 10.

Two potentially hazardous asteroids have been ruled out as a threat to Earth — but a bigger one is on the way

<ul><li>The <keyword id="1562308" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chelyabinsk-Meteor">Chelyabinsk meteor</keyword> exploded over Russia with a force of 40 Hiroshima nuclear bombs. </li><li>Damage stretched for 500 square kilometers, destroying 7,200 building and injuring over 1,400 people in its wake.</li><li>But it could have been even worse had it exploded closer to earth like the Tunguska event. </li></ul>As many as 800 asteroids are hovering around Earth, posing many a risk. Some are particularly dangerous like the Apophis asteroid — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elon-musk-says-we-have-no-defence-against-asteroid-god-of-chaos/articleshow/70748251.cms">God of Chaos</a> — that is supposed whiz past earth in 2029. There is another asteroid which is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-asteroid-nearly-half-the-size-of-mount-everest-might-be-on-a-collision-course-for-earth-in-less-than-a-year/articleshow/70698774.cms">half the size of Mount Everest</a> and is expected to pass by the planet in less than a year. But, these are just the ones we know about. In 2013, a space object entered the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded with such a force — equivalent to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/russian-meteor-hit-atmosphere-with-a-force-of-40-hiroshima-bombs/articleshow/21343758.cms">440,000 tons of TNT</a> — that it damaged buildings for 500 square kilometers. And, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-unsettling-reasons-no-one-saw-the-Chelyabinsk-meteor-over-Russia-coming-and-why-it-could-happen-again/articleshow/51898217.cms">nobody saw it coming</a>. <div type="Youtube" id="iCawTYPtehk" title="Взрыв метеорита над Челябинском 15.02.2013.avi" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iCawTYPtehk/mqdefault.jpg"></div>

 Chelyabinsk meteor Dubbed the Chelyabinsk meteor after its point of impact in Russia, the house-sized asteroid was a ‘<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nasa-chief-warns-people-need-to-take-the-threat-of-a-meteor-crashing-into-earth-much-more-seriously/articleshow/69146504.cms">cosmic wake-up call</a>’, according to NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/five-years-after-the-chelyabinsk-meteor-nasa-leads-efforts-in-planetary-defense">Lindley Johnson</a>. The meteor exploded a mere 30 kilometers from the Earth’s surface over a region that was home to around a million people. <div type="image" title="99738-790f0-64394570-m750x740-uf6c6e_edited" msid="70782724" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;A picture taken of the Chelyabinsk meteor&amp;#39;s smoke trail with the double plumes visible either side.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 The explosion was so bright — even 30 times brighter than the Sun for a moment — that it could be seen from a 100 kilometers away right before windows were shattered, doors were broken, walls were brought down and even whole factories collapsed. <div type="image" title="640px-Цинковый_завод_Челябинска_edited" msid="70782795" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The shock from the meteor resulted in a roof collapse over the warehouse section of a zinc factory in Chelyabinsk&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 Over 7,200 buildings expanding across six cities in Chelyabinsk were damaged by the effects of the blast. <div type="image" title="99738-adca5-64394583-m750x740-ue53ea_edited" msid="70782851" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Leftover glass shards after windows exploded in Chelyabinsk&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 Over 1,400 people were injured in the blast according to Russian authorities. The effects of the asteroid ranged from broken spines to ultra violet burns on their skin. Some people also reported temporary flash blindness from looking directly at the meteor. The entire <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Russians-Thought-The-Meteor-Was-A-Bomb-Or-Terrorist-Attack/The-meteor-the-largest-reported-since-one-hit-Tunguska-Siberia-1908-exploded-over-the-Russian-city-of-Chelyabinsk-on-Friday-morning-Feb-15-in-that-region-/slideshow/21335141.cms">damage to Chelyabinsk</a> in terms of monetary loss came up to around $33 million at the time, according to the oblast governor. Thrice the size, four times the damage The Chelyabinsk meteor exploded above the surface of the planet and was still able to inflict damage for miles. Had the meteor actually crashed into the Earth — the resulting destruction would have been on a much larger scale. The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/TUNGUSKA-106-Years-Ago-A-Mysterious-Explosion-1000x-More-Powerful-Than-The-Hiroshima-Bomb-Rocked-Siberia/articleshow/37532646.cms">Tunguska meteor</a> that hit the Earth in 1908 — the largest known natural object to enter the planet’s atmosphere ever — flattened 2,000 square kilometers of forest. <div type="image" title="tu" msid="70782916" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Impact of the Tunguska meteor&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 Even though the difference in size between the two meteors is only around 45 meters, the damage was much greater since Tunguska disintegrated only 10 kilometers from the planet’s surface. <div type="image" title="517px-Tunguska_and_Chelyabinsk_meteoroid_size_edited" msid="70782963" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Size comparison of the Tunguska meteor (TM) and the Chelyabinsk meteor (CM) to the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 So, instead of exploding with the energy of 440,000 tons — Tunguska dispelled around <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983AREPS..11..461S">15 megatons</a> of TNT, which is 1,000 times the amount of energy of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima. It should be noted that there is some disagreement over the exact might of the explosion with <a href="https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/asteroid.html">supercomputer estimates stating</a> that it was only around 3 megatons while a <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019Icar..327...83W">new study</a> published in 2019 estimates it to be around 20-30 megatons. The main difference between the two asteroid events was that with Chelyabinsk occurred in a highly populated region, the Tunguska event occurred in a sparsely populated area. Tunguska and Chelyabinsk meteors aren’t the only examples of asteroids that hit Earth — they’re only the largest and the most recent, respectively. In 1930, asteroids are said to have exploded over the Curuca River in Brazil and an iron meteorite fell on the Sikhote Alin Mountains in 1947. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-asteroid-nearly-half-the-size-of-mount-everest-might-be-on-a-collision-course-for-earth-in-less-than-a-year/articleshow/70698774.cms">An asteroid nearly half the size of Mount Everest might be on a collision course for Earth in less than a year</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/elon-musk-says-we-have-no-defence-against-asteroid-god-of-chaos/articleshow/70748251.cms">Elon Musk says we have no defence against asteroid ‘God of Chaos'</a> <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>

The last major asteroid to hit Earth destroyed 500 square kilometers — and it could have been much worse

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>A 1,100-foot-wide rock named 99942 Apophis is on course to pass close to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.</li><li>The asteroid will be 19,000 miles above the earth's surface and visible to the naked eye.</li><li>It is rare for an asteroid of this size to pass Earth so closely, according to NASA.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.</a></li></ul>A massive&#xa0;<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/topic/asteroid" data-vars-item-name="BL-4132766-/topic/asteroid" data-vars-event-id="c23">asteroid</a>&#xa0;will be visible to the naked eye when it passes close to&#xa0;<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/topic/earth" data-vars-item-name="BL-4132766-/topic/earth" data-vars-event-id="c23">Earth</a>&#xa0;within the same distance as spacecraft that orbit the planet, according to&#xa0;<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/topic/nasa" data-vars-item-name="BL-4132766-/topic/nasa" data-vars-event-id="c23">NASA</a>. &#xa0;The 1,100-foot-wide rock named 99942 Apophis will shoot across the sky like a "moving star-like point of light", getting brighter and faster on Friday April 13 2029.At 19,000 miles above the earth's surface, it will first become visible to the naked eye in the night sky over the Southern Hemisphere from the east coast to the west coast of Australia.The asteroid will then pass across the Indian ocean, moving west above Africa, then travelling above the Atlantic Ocean in just an hour, reaching the US by the evening.&#xa0;It is rare for an asteroid of this size to pass Earth so closely, according to&#xa0;NASA, which says&#xa0;that smaller asteroids from 10-20 metres have been spotted at similar distances but those the size of&#xa0;Apophis&#xa0;are much fewer.<div cnx-creative-type="VideoMonetization">NASA scientists discussed the observation and science opportunities for the celestial event at the 2019 Planetary Defence Conference in Maryland on Tuesday.According to researchers, Apophis will travel more than the width of the full moon within a minute and will shine as bright as the stars in the Little Dipper constellation."The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science," said Marina Brozović, a radar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California."We'll observe the asteroid with both optical and radar telescopes."With radar observations, we might be able to see surface details that are only a few meters in size."When a team of astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory discovered Apophis in 2004, initial orbital calculations revealed that the asteroid had a 2.7% chance of impacting Earth in 2029.However, additional observations completely ruled out that possibility, showing that Apophis still has a small chance of impacting Earth -&#xa0;less than 1 in 100,000 - many decades from now.Davide Farnocchia, an astronomer at JLP's Center for Near Earth Objects Studies said: "We already know that the close encounter with Earth will change Apophis' orbit, but our models also show the close approach could change the way this asteroid spins, and it is possible that there will be some surface changes, like small avalanches.""Apophis is a representative of about 2,000 currently known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids," said Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS. "By observing Apophis during its 2029 flyby, we will gain important scientific knowledge that could one day be used for planetary defence."</div><div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/karlmann-king-worlds-most-expensive-suv-2019-4">The Karlmann King is a $2 million enormous ultra-luxury SUV built upon a Ford F-550</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A 1,100-foot-wide asteroid is on course to pass by Earth in a decade

US President-elect <keyword id="99719" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Joe-Biden">Joe Biden</keyword> was an early supporter of the India-US relationship and his administration will continue to prioritise the defence and security partnership with New Delhi, a key area which has progressed during Donald Trump's tenure as president, a senior official from the Barrack Obama-era administration has said. The US media has projected Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. However, incumbent Trump is yet to concede defeat, vowing to mount legal fights in several key battleground states. There is much speculation on how the India-US relationship will shape during Biden's time in the White house. "Based on the priorities articulated already by President-elect Biden, I would anticipate that the Biden-Harris administration will continue to place a high priority on the defence and security relationship with India, the major area that has advanced during the Trump administration," Alyssa Ayres Senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) told . Author of 'Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World,' Ayres had served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia from 2010 to 2013. Former vice president Biden was an early supporter of the US-India relationship, she said, adding that the president-elect, 15 years ago, viewed the US and India as "the two closest nations in the world". Biden had even championed the civil-nuclear agreement with India in Congress, Ayres recalled. Biden's election campaign website speaks on partnering with India to support rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region. Biden's global priorities on fighting the coronavirus pandemic and tackling climate change will necessitate close cooperation with India, Ayres said. "I've seen a lot of attention in the Indian media to the question of whether President-elect Biden will criticise India on questions of democracy and human rights -- he has stated that he has concerns, and given his decades of diplomatic experience would be likely to convey his views privately -- but I've seen little on the question of climate change and clean energy," Ayres said in response to a question. Ayres expects clean energy and climate cooperation to return to the forefront of the agenda during the Biden administration as was the case during Barrack Obama's term. "We can see the catastrophic effects of climate change before us. Our country is on fire, and our coasts regularly hit by hurricanes, while India battles floods, drought, and extreme weather events; and we cannot solve this without dramatically scaling up clean energy," she said. "India has emerged as a global leader in solar (power) and it will be in all of our collective interest to renew cooperation on this area (which) the Trump administration set aside," Ayres said. Originally trained as a cultural historian, Ayres has carried out research in India-Pakistan geopolitics. Before serving in the Obama administration, Ayres was founding director of the India and South Asia practice at McLarty Associates, a Washington-based international strategic advisory firm, from 2008 to 2010. From 2007 to 2008, she served as special assistant to the undersecretary of state for political affairs as a CFR international affairs fellow. Prior to that she worked in the non-profit sector at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Advanced Study of India and at the Asia Society in New York. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/instagram-down-users-complain-of-frozen-timelines-and-likes/articleshow/79146012.cms">Instagram down for a second consecutive day — Facebook is working on a fix but has not disclosed what's wrong</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/spicejet-shrink-its-losses-to-112-59-crore-in-the-second-quarter-ended-september-30/articleshow/79172678.cms">Spicejet is losing one rupee where it was losing four thanks to cheaper fuel and cut in rentals</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/two-tiny-asteroids-to-zoom-past-earth-on-diwali-2020/articleshow/79170635.cms">Two tiny asteroids to zoom past Earth this Diwali — likely without any fireworks</a>

US-India defence and security partnership with continue to remain a 'high priority' under Biden, says Obama-era official

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Screenshot</div>WORRYING about the threats posed by space rocks has traditionally been the preserve of the paranoid. No one doubts that asteroids have hit Earth in the past, <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/35116/chicxulub-crater/">with</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Crater">nasty</a> <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30jun_tunguska/">consequences</a>, but because the chances of any such event happening in a given year <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/02/daily-chart-7">are so low</a>, most people have been content to ignore the risk.
Yesterday, however, a meteorite was seen streaking through the sky above Yekaterinberg in Russia. It hit the ground (possibly landing in a lake) near another city, Chelyablinsk. It is <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/russian-meteor-largest-in-a-century-1.12438">thought</a> to be the biggest meteor to hit Earth in more than a century. The shock wave it caused as it passed overhead blew out windows and injured hundreds of people. Also today, a 50 metre-wide <keyword id="6549794" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="asteroid">asteroid</keyword> called 2012 DA14 is zipping past Earth inside the orbit of some man-made satellites, marking the closest shave on record for an asteroid of that size.
This pair of unrelated events ought to focus minds, and not just among the small group of astronomers who have been worrying about asteroid strikes for many years. The first line of defence, as always, is knowing your enemy. To that end <keyword id="6360409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="NASA">NASA</keyword>, America's space agency, has been watching the sky since 1998, trying to detect any chunks of rock whose orbits bring them close to Earth. These rocks are known as near-Earth objects (NEOs).
The agency reckons it has now tracked down around 90% of the very biggest NEOs, the "planet killers" a kilometre or more across. (The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs is estimated to have been 7-10km across.) These heavyweights account for around 10% of the 10,000 or so known NEOs. Most, like 2012 DA14, are smaller. This makes them less dangerous, though they would still do a lot of damage if they were to hit a town or city. It also makes them harder to spot. This week's events give the various NEO-detection efforts involving NASA, the Japanese Space Agency and several universities around the world a good excuse to ask for more money to expand their search.
Other researchers, meanwhile, have been pondering what to do if an asteroid is detected that is indeed on a collision course with Earth. In the science-fiction film "Armageddon," Bruce Willis leads a team of drillers who blast a dangerous asteroid apart using nuclear weapons, which has the pleasing symmetry of using one doomsday scenario to avert another. But in reality this approach would be problematic. A nuclear explosion might simply fracture a large asteroid into several smaller ones, which could still hit Earth. Legal pedants might also point out that the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty bans nuclear explosions in space.
There are other approaches. The European Space Agency is working on a mission called <a href="http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Technology/NEO/Don_Quijote_concept">Don Quijote</a> that aims to use a large, heavy spacecraft to ram an asteroid out of the way. Nor is violence the only answer: sending a rocket engine to an asteroid could work if the asteroid in question was relatively small and was detected with plenty of time to spare. Another non-violent proposal is to "paint" one side of an asteroid in light or dark colours, tweaking its trajectory via a neat bit of physics called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarkovsky_effect">Yarkovsky effect</a> that describes the way in which sunlight gives celestial bodies a gentle push. Perhaps the most elegant, though least spectacular, solution involves parking a spacecraft called a "gravity tractor" in orbit around an asteroid, and relying on its gravity to tug the rock gently out of the way. 
On February 14th two scientists at the University of California in Santa Barbara outlined another proposal, called DESTAR, in which solar-powered orbiting lasers would be turned on a threatening asteroid. The system could work in one of two ways. The stream of photons pouring from the lasers on a smallish system, roughly the size of the International Space Station, would be able to alter an asteroid's orbit over time by giving it a push. But bigger lasers would provide more destructive options. A large version of the system (roughly 10km across) could, the researchers say, vaporise an asteroid ten times the size of 2012 DA14 over the course of about a year. They claim, perhaps rather optimistically, that their idea is feasible with current technology.
But there is one final point that any aspiring asteroid-hunters would do well to consider. In his 1994 book "Pale Blue Dot", the science writer Carl Sagan pointed out that any technology capable of deflecting an asteroid away from Earth could also be used to place an otherwise unthreatening space rock on a collision course. Supervillains of the world, take note.
Click <a href="http://www.economist.com/products/subscribe/CUR22/noreg">here</a> to subscribe to <keyword id="425741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Economist">The Economist</keyword>

You Searched For "asteroid defence" and got 11 results

NASA and the European Space Agency are meeting to defend the Earth against asteroids

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Ufologist claims the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid will strike somewhere over Europe

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Two potentially hazardous asteroids have been ruled out as a threat to Earth — but a bigger one is on the way

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The last major asteroid to hit Earth destroyed 500 square kilometers — and it could have been much worse

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A 1,100-foot-wide asteroid is on course to pass by Earth in a decade

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US-India defence and security partnership with continue to remain a 'high priority' under Biden, says Obama-era official

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Astronomers Are Planning Dramatic Ways To Stop An Asteroid Collision

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