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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dinosaur-fossil-from-day-extinction-asteroid-hit-earth-scientists-claim-2022-4">asteroid that killed</a> most dinosaurs 66 million years ago left behind traces of its own origin.</li><li>Researchers think they know where the Chicxulub impactor came from based on levels of ruthenium.</li></ul>A team of researchers think they know the origin of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chicxulub-asteroid-impact-triggered-underwater-volcanic-eruptions-2018-2">massive space rock</a> that hit Earth and killed off almost all the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.Their findings could help NASA in its search for potentially hazardous asteroids that pose a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-extinction-earth-take-10-million-years-recover-2019-4">significant threat</a> to life on Earth.Asteroids have different chemical makeups depending on where they formed in our solar system.To determine the dino-killing asteroid's origin, researchers examined the various elements in samples taken from several locations dating to the time of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-extinction-earth-take-10-million-years-recover-2019-4">mass extinction</a>.In particular, they looked at the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oppenheimer-science-to-understand-physics-atomic-bombs-2023-7">element ruthenium</a>. It's a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/44/ruthenium">rare</a> metal on Earth but is more abundant in asteroids.Ruthenium levels can be a good indicator of whether an asteroid "originally formed in the outer solar system or in the inner solar system," Mario Fischer-Gödde, one of the researchers, told Business Insider.Fischer-Gödde and his colleagues found that, unlike many other impactors over the last 541 million years, the Chicxulub impactor that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chicxulub-asteroid-strike-cretaceous-paleogene-extinction-2017-11">killed the dinosaurs</a> and up to 75% of all life on Earth formed in the outer — not the inner — solar system.However, the impactor likely made its way to the inner solar system in the asteroid belt long before it hurtled toward Earth. That's because in the early days of the solar system, Jupiter migrated and its gravitational influence scattered more distant asteroids closer to the sun in the process, Fischer-Gödde said.<h2 id="42437828-e838-4325-833b-b21d3ef96f61">NASA doesn't know where all the dangerous asteroids are</h2><div type="image" title="A stegosaurus skeleton in front of a sign that reads &quot;Apex the Segosaurs&quot;" height="683" width="1024" msid="112576306" hostid="261" sizebytes="48450"></div>Despite the rarity of huge asteroid strikes, NASA and other space agencies are racing to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-built-largest-digital-camera-lsst-for-asteroids-dark-matter-2024-4">learn all they can</a> about potentially harmful rocks that could trigger another mass extinction event. Because it only takes one.There are still many unknowns about these rocks, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-dart-mission-cant-protect-earth-without-surveilling-asteroids-2022-9">where some of them are</a> and which types may pose the most threat.Understanding more about the origin of major asteroid strikes in Earth's past could help NASA know where to look for future risks.With the ruthenium findings, "we are a step further in zooming in on the exact object" that created the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chicxulub-asteroid-more-sulfur-rapid-climate-cooling-2017-11">Chicxulub crater</a>, Jan Smit, a professor emeritus at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam who was not involved in the research, told Business Insider via email.<h2 id="bbfbaaec-0fb8-4e72-a632-37f1006840ab">An asteroid type that rarely hits Earth did unbelievable damage</h2><div type="image" title="An artist's illustration of a massive asteroid colliding with Earth" height="1414" width="2121" msid="112576307" hostid="261" sizebytes="186530"></div>Fischer-Gödde and his colleagues examined samples from five <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-impact-simulation-experts-fear-congress-would-delay-action-2024-6">other impacts</a> that happened in the last 541 million years.Their levels of ruthenium showed that most of the objects were S-type asteroids, which are found in the inner solar system.Meanwhile, the samples taken from the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, where the Chicxulub impactor hit, suggested that the object was a C-type asteroid, which typically live in the outer solar system.Earlier studies <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=d979a6041b8f5d7121d348980127dd645a72bea6c355d8e6bd6ce429583ce309&amp;postID=66be5b0fb9a365362651ba40&amp;postSlug=origins-asteroid-killed-dinosaurs-help-prevent-future-mass-extinction-2024-8&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2F24322">suggested</a> the Chicxulub impactor was a C-type asteroid but this latest ruthenium data adds to the supporting evidence, Smit told BI.About 80% of the meteorites that have hit Earth are fragments of S-type asteroids, Fischer-Gödde said.It's not clear why S-type impactors are more common, but Fischer-Gödde thinks it might be that C-types tend to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-simulated-asteroid-couldnt-stop-impact-europe-2021-5">break apart more</a> and don't make it through the Earth's atmosphere."So far we cannot really say whether one or the other asteroid type would be more likely to cause a mass extinction event," Fischer-Gödde said in a follow-up email. He said asteroids may have contributed to older mass extinction events, like the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=31f1c3e012df1524f07e36095b624c954adf7b450ab4f9552ae32e03b640b8fe&amp;postID=66be5b0fb9a365362651ba40&amp;postSlug=origins-asteroid-killed-dinosaurs-help-prevent-future-mass-extinction-2024-8&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalgeographic.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fmass-extinction">one</a> during the Late Devonian period. Future research could explain the origins of these asteroid strikes as well.However, the devastation from the Chicxulub impactor shows that a C-type can be disastrous for Earth. It was a combination of factors, from its size to where it hit, that led to its widespread destruction."It's a big kind of cosmic coincidence, and we all should be thankful for this because otherwise maybe the planet would look very different nowadays," Fischer-Gödde said.The researchers published their findings in the journal <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk4868">Science</a>.

Scientists think they've found the origin of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. It could help prevent a future mass extinction on Earth.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The second moon that Earth has captured in its orbit this month is an asteroid called 2024 PT5.</li><li>Mini-moons like this could be ideal targets for asteroid mining to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-havent-we-been-to-mars-yet-2024-5">send humans deeper into space</a>.</li></ul>The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/second-moon-orbiting-earth-when-why-what-to-know-2024-9 ">second moon that Earth now has for two months</a> may seem like just a fun curiosity, but it's also a sneak peek at a future space industry that could change our global economy.An asteroid called 2024 PT5, which normally orbits the sun as part of the Arjuna asteroid belt, was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-photograph-mini-moon-small-object-in-orbit-2020-2">captured in Earth's orbit</a> on Sunday, according to astronomers' projections. Astronomers expect it to spend about 57 days traveling along a horseshoe-shaped path around Earth before rejoining its asteroid belt.For those 57 days, the school-bus-sized <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-impact-simulation-experts-fear-congress-would-delay-action-2024-6">asteroid</a> will be a "natural satellite" of Earth — basically another, temporary moon.<div type="image" title="screenshot of asteroid profile page showing illustration of a bumpy candy-corn-shaped grey asteroid in space with a text box labeling it 2024 PT5 and saying its average estimated diameter is 10.76 m" height="1537" width="2864" msid="113817839" hostid="261" sizebytes="68552"></div>That makes it economically intriguing. "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-moon-asteroid-orbiting-sun-alongside-earth-astronomers-discover-2023-6">Mini-moons</a>" like this are ideal targets for mining, according to Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, one of the scientists who charted 2024 PT5's path around our planet.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-mining-company-earth-startups-raw-materials-cobalt-gold-platinum-2021-3">Asteroid mining</a> could someday help humans travel further out into the cosmos and extend our presence through the solar system. That's because some asteroids contain valuable metals like iron or platinum, as well as water.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">Elon Musk's vision of a city on Mars</a>, for example, depends on asteroid mining. Temporary moons like 2024 PT5 could be a key stepping stone."Mini-moons are very important for the nascent global <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">space economy</a>," Marcos told Business Insider in an email. Because they come so close to Earth and take a sojourn in our orbit, he added, "they are among the objects easier to reach using low-cost missions."<h2 id="462c4c69-18b1-4a3f-8e7d-7cb0491d6b39">Asteroids can be worth quintillions</h2>Asteroid 2024 PT5 may not be worth much, since scientists think it's made of basalt.It's basically "a giant boulder," Teddy Kareta, a planetary scientist at the Lowell Observatory, told Business Insider.But some asteroids contain so much metal that they're <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-visit-psyche-asteroid-worth-more-than-entire-world-economy-2023-10">worth more than our entire global economy</a>.Take Psyche, for example, an asteroid that NASA is sending a spacecraft to for scientific study, since the agency believes it to be the core of a long-dead planet.Psyche's metal-rich makeup — mostly iron and nickel — makes it worth an estimated $100 quintillion if it were here on Earth.<div type="image" title="graphic of what the asteroid is thought to look like" height="900" width="1600" msid="113817842" hostid="261" sizebytes="175866"></div>Some asteroids even have precious metals like platinum, gold, and cobalt.Nobody has mined an asteroid yet, though <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-osiris-rex-probe-landing-on-asteroid-kicking-dust-2020-10">NASA punched one</a> in 2020 to grab scientific samples from it.Some startups are trying to figure out how to start mining space rocks, and do it in a cost-effective way. Flying to an asteroid isn't cheap.One of them, called <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-mining-startup-has-booked-its-first-test-mission-spacex-2022-6">AstroForge, has launched a small probe with SpaceX</a>, though the spacecraft wasn't able to conduct the testing they'd planned, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.space.com/asteroid-mining-astroforge-docking-mission-2025">Space.com</a>. The company is now planning two more missions, which it hopes will culminate in its first landing on a metallic asteroid in 2025.<h2 id="e5b0dd4a-bb61-4c4d-a49c-2d9e9a2960a9">Pit stops on the way to Mars</h2>Long-distance <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-invest-mars-pulsed-plasma-rocket-shorten-space-time-travel-2024-7">deep-space missions</a>, especially if they're carrying humans and cargo, will have a fuel problem.Fuel is heavy, so the less of it you have to load onto a spacecraft the better. On the long flight to Mars or other planets, asteroids could become gas stations.That's because <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/506/1/L6/6298231?login=false">research</a> <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018JE005584">suggests</a> that many asteroids in Earth's neighborhood are rich in water, which can be mined and split into its elementary components — hydrogen and oxygen, both of which are critical for making rocket fuel.Mini-moons are perfect places to start, some scientists think, because of their proximity to Earth but also because of how small they are.It takes an immense amount of rocket fuel to escape Earth's powerful gravitational pull. But little asteroids don't have much gravity, making it easy to leapfrog off of them."It only takes a puff of fuel to leave the mini-moon and head back towards Earth," Richard Binzel, a planetary scientist at MIT, previously told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/undiscovered-minimoons-may-orbit-earth-could-they-help-us-become-an-interplanetary-species">Live Science</a>.<h2 id="bf8bc193-7a0a-4a09-9d9c-2c6ac7e8d411">Mini-moon missions at the ready</h2>One problem with mini-moons is that scientists sometimes don't see them coming until a few weeks before they're captured in our planet's orbit.Asteroid 2024 PT5, for example, was first identified as a mini-moon in early September and will only be in Earth's orbit for about 57 days.That's a tight timeline for preparing and launching a mining mission. For any asteroid, "you need to learn enough about it to know whether it's worth sending a rocket up," Kareta said.Asteroid-mining companies can work around that by having mining spacecraft ready in Earth's orbit, waiting for the right space rock to zoom by, Marcos said."Either if you are thinking about collecting mineral samples for research or starting a space mining venture, mini-moons are your best bet to get your business off the ground," he said.

Mini-moons like the one Earth just captured could be huge business opportunities

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A giant "city killer" asteroid will safely shoot past Earth today traveling at 41,000 mph.</li><li>Its closest approach to Earth will be 1.77 million miles, over seven times the distance to the moon.</li></ul>NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has spotted a giant <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-predicts-exact-date-asteroid-hit-earth-atomic-bomb-bennu-2023-9">"city killer" asteroid</a> flying toward Earth. And this afternoon, it will reach its closest approach to our planet, about 1.77 million miles away.For reference, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mind-boggling-nasa-photo-shows-moon-distance-from-earth-2022-10">the moon</a> is about 239,000 miles from Earth, so this asteroid will be 7.4 times as far from Earth as the moon is. The speedy space rock is expected to be zipping along at about 41,000 mph and measures roughly 890 feet across, or roughly the size of a US football stadium, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch/next-five-approaches">NASA</a>.<div type="image" title="View of a football stadium from above." height="2051" width="1461" msid="107369399" hostid="261" sizebytes="513156"></div>Experts sometimes call asteroids this size "city killers" because they're capable of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-dart-mission-cant-protect-earth-without-surveilling-asteroids-2022-9">destroying an entire city</a> if they collide with an inhabited part of Earth.Still, this asteroid will be too small and far away to see without a telescope. It will be about 10,000 times fainter than the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/type-be-vampire-stars-secret-helper-2023-11">faintest stars</a> visible to the naked eye, Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist and the scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project, told Business Insider over email.But if you want to catch a glimpse of the asteroid as it whizzes by, you're in luck!Masi and his colleagues will be recording the event live starting at 1 p.m. ET today. You can watch the livestream on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CtdiyL86JE&amp;ab_channel=TheVirtualTelescopeProject">YouTube</a> or in the video below.The livestream will track Asteroid 2008 OS7 as it flies by Earth. Viewers will be able to distinguish it as a tiny dot moving past other fixed tiny dots, aka stars, in the background. The livestream will last about 45 minutes, Masi said.VTP has recorded other flybys like this, and it's "something always very fascinating to see," Masi told BI.<h2>About Asteroid 2008 OS7</h2>Asteroid 2008 OS7 orbits the sun every 962 days. After passing by Earth, it will continue along its oval-shaped path through our solar system.Its oblong-shaped orbit means that each time the asteroid approaches Earth, its distance from our planet varies significantly.For example, the website <a target="_blank" href="https://www.spacereference.org/asteroid/2008-os7">Space Reference</a> estimates that upon its next close approach, in July 2037, it will be about 9.7 million miles from Earth.<h2>Potentially hazardous asteroids</h2>Asteroid 2008 OS7 is what <a target="_blank" href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/about/neo_groups.html">NASA calls</a> a "potentially hazardous" asteroid because of its size and how close it flies past Earth.An asteroid is considered potentially hazardous if it is at least 460 feet in diameter and orbits Earth within a distance of about 4.65 million miles.Scientists have identified more than <a target="_blank" href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/totals.html">34,000 near-Earth objects</a>. Just over 2,300 have been designated <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/ai-finds-first-potentially-dangerous-asteroid">potentially hazardous</a>.But NASA suspects there are many more out there that haven't been discovered. If a giant asteroid were on course to hit Earth, we'd need <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-simulation-reveals-need-years-of-warning-2021-5#:~:text=NASA%20is%20developing%20a%20space%20telescope%20to%20track%20asteroids&amp;text=NASA%20is%20planning%20a%20mission,into%20Earth's%20orbit%20in%202026.">five to 10 years of warning</a> to destroy or deflect it.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/near-earth-object-surveyor">Near-Earth Object Surveyor mission</a>, set to launch in September 2027. It would send an infrared space telescope into Earth's orbit to expand NASA's search for near-Earth objects that could threaten our planet.

A football stadium-sized asteroid will blaze by Earth today. Here's how to watch the potentially hazardous 'city killer' live.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Asteroid Bennu has a slim chance of hitting our planet on September 24, 2182, NASA said.</li><li>It would release as much energy as about 24 nuclear bombs, so NASA is keeping a close eye on it. </li></ul>What are you doing on September 24, 2182? You may want to clear your calendar because scientists think an asteroid may hit Earth. NASA scientists are keeping a close eye on asteroid Bennu, a 1,610-foot-wide <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-sizes-that-can-damage-cities-states-planet-2018-6">cosmic object</a> that could smash into our planet.If Bennu were to hit the Earth, it would slam into the surface at about seven miles per second. It is so big that it could release 1,400 megatons of energy, <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/details.html#?des=101955" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per a NASA calculation</a> — which is at least 24 times as powerful as the nuclear weapon, the Tsar Bomba. Thankfully, the chances of this happening are very slim — about 1 in 2,700, <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-spacecraft-provides-insight-into-asteroid-bennus-future-orbit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per a 2021 study</a>.Still, NASA is interested enough in Bennu to launch a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-probe-returning-from-asteroid-with-2-oz-of-asteroid-space-rock-2021-5">seven-year-long mission</a> to study it, which is due to bring back a precious sample from the asteroid in a dramatic landing on Sunday.This mission could help us better forecast the future of our cosmic neighbor, but it could also provide unprecedented insight into the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-earth-tectonic-plates-billion-years-2021-2">formation of the Earth</a>. <h2>Bennu is bigger than the Empire State Building</h2>Bennu belongs to a category of asteroids called "city-killers." That means that if it were to hit the Earth — the probability of which is zero until 2,100 and very small after that, per NASA — it would be powerful enough to flatten a large city. <div type="image" title="A animated gif shows a model of Bennu next to a picture of the Empire State Building and the Eiffel tower, both of which are about as tall as the asteroid is big." height="359" width="720" msid="103866263" hostid="261"></div>The diamond-shaped asteroid is no stranger to Earth's neighborhood. Its long orbit around the sun means it approaches the Earth about every six years. But it usually keeps a polite distance from us — it's never come closer than about <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=Bennu&amp;view=OPC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3 million miles</a> from Earth.As it makes its way around the solar system, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacecraft-asteroid-landing-osiris-rex-2020-10">Bennu's orbit</a> can change, and that's where it gets a little riskier. To make its 2182 appointment with the Earth, Bennu will need to pass within a very small window in space — a "<a href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4921" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gravitational keyhole</a>" — in 2135. That would shift its orbit perfectly to line up with our planet.But there's still a 99.96% chance it will miss us on that date. <h2>We need to know more about large Earth-bound asteroids</h2>Even though the risk is low, large asteroids near Earth need to be taken seriously. Of the ones we know, most pose <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/did-you-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener">little to no</a> risk to our planet.But the concern is that these kinds of objects could be hiding from view, meaning NASA can only spot them moments before they hit.<div type="image" title="A animated gif shows Bennu from all sides as it is being rotated around. The diamond-shaped grey asteroid is covered in boulders." height="900" width="900" msid="103866265" hostid="261"></div>NASA estimates that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-dart-mission-cant-protect-earth-without-surveilling-asteroids-2022-9">60% of the city-killer-sized</a> asteroids that could come in proximity to Earth are unknown at this time, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/planet-killer-asteroid-could-threaten-earth-in-a-few-millennia-2022-10">even bigger rocks</a> could be hidden in the light of the sun, a known blindspot for observation from Earth. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chelyabinsk-meteor-mystery-3-years-later-2016-2?jwsource=cl">Chelyabinsk incident</a> provided a stark reminder of this fact in 2013 when a house-sized asteroid unexpectedly appeared over the city before exploding, breaking windows, damaging buildings, and injuring more than 1,400 people.<div type="image" title="asteroid russia Chelyabinsk" height="3744" width="4992" msid="103866266" hostid="261"></div>That's why NASA has been working to improve its forecasting of so-called Near Earth Objects.Studying an object like Bennu, which is easy to observe and comes close enough to Earth that we can send a mission there, is important for understanding more about these objects. NASA's mission to Bennu, a probe called Osiris-Rex that was launched in 2016, could provide more clues about how asteroids sail in the cosmos. For instance, one of the mission's objectives is to understand how the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/did-you-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener">light from the sun,</a> as it is absorbed and re-radiated, could affect Bennu's orbit.<h2>Bennu could shed light on our planet's birth</h2>There's more to Bennu than its destructive potential, and that's what NASA is most interested in for Osiris-Rex.Bennu was likely created at about the same time as our planet, about 4.5 billion years ago, <a href="https://beta.science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex/osiris-rex-faq/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA said</a>.Traces of what happened at that time have long been erased from our planet, under millions of years of erosion. But Bennu could still be carrying elements from then, frozen in time as it sails through the cosmos, per NASA.That's why NASA is eagerly awaiting the return of its Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which is carrying a few ounces of precious dust collected from Bennu in 2020.<div type="image" title="OSIRIS REx collection" height="1312" width="1749" msid="103866269" hostid="261"></div>This little probe, which has been sailing back from Bennu since May 10, 2021, should deliver its payload, a capsule containing the precious sample, as it passes about 63,000 miles from the Earth in the early hours of Sunday morning. The capsule is planned to fall back to Earth later Sunday morning, landing in Utah around 10:55 a.m. ET.

NASA scientists calculated the exact date an asteroid could hit Earth with the force of at least 24 nuclear bombs. Thankfully, it's a long way off.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two astronauts will be at the ISS for longer than planned, following issues with Boeing's Starliner.</li><li>The spacecraft has experienced helium leaks and thruster failures during its first crewed launch.</li></ul>Two NASA astronauts have been left waiting to return home from the International Space Station because of issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.NASA and Boeing <a target="_blank" href="https://starlinerupdates.com/nasa-boeing-update-starliner-crew-flight-test-return-from-station/">announced on Tuesday</a> that Starliner's return had been delayed to June 26 after the troubled vessel's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-starliner-takes-off-crewed-astronauts-onboard-delays-2024-6">first crewed launch</a> was hampered by technical issues.It's the latest delay to hit the Starliner mission and means an ISS mission that was expected to last<a target="_blank" href="https://starlinerupdates.com/starliner-completes-1st-crewed-docking/"> eight-10 days is now extended</a> to at least 20 for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.The space capsule had a difficult time docking with the ISS, with <a target="_blank" href="https://gizmodo.com/watch-boeing-starliner-dock-iss-astronauts-1851521917">five thrusters failing on approach</a>, though four were subsequently recovered.NASA <a target="_blank" href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/boeing-crew-flight-test/2024/06/10/nasa-boeing-progress-on-testing-starliner-with-crew-at-space-station/">said last week</a> that ground teams were also assessing the potential impact of <a target="_blank" href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/boeings-starliner-5-small-helium-leaks-astronauts-iss/story?id=111012781">five small helium leaks</a>.In a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TXDedBlyBI">press briefing</a> on Tuesday, NASA and Boeing officials said that Starliner had plenty of helium left and that they felt "comfortable" about the craft's ability to re-enter Earth's atmosphere safely. They added, however, that they were taking time to review data from the launch and docking before giving Starliner the green light to return home.Starliner's first crewed launch, which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-starliner-takes-off-crewed-astronauts-onboard-delays-2024-6">took place on June 5</a>, was delayed multiple times because of technical concerns.The launch was a crucial moment for the US aviation giant, which is attempting to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-boeing-spaceship-flying-nasa-astronauts-despite-airplane-safety-incidents-2024-5">challenge SpaceX's stranglehold</a> on the commercial space industry.SpaceX has been transporting astronauts to and from the ISS since 2020, but Boeing, the other company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-chooses-american-companies-to-transport-u-s-astronauts-to-international-space-station/">selected by NASA for the task in 2014</a>, has lagged behind.SpaceX founder Elon Musk <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-bashes-boeing-astronaut-flight-spacex-did-years-ago-2024-5">criticized Boeing about a month before Starliner's launch</a>, writing on X that the company had "too many non-technical managers."The issues with Starliner come at a bad time for Boeing, which is grappling with new safety concerns <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-plane-safety-faa-production-timeline-2024-6">over its 737 Max</a> after a door plug on an Alaska Airlines passenger plane detached mid-flight in January.Boeing and NASA declined to add to the comments made in the Tuesday briefing and a<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TXDedBlyBI"> joint teleconference</a> after being contacted by Business Insider.

Boeing's leaking Starliner spacecraft has delayed 2 astronauts' return to Earth 

<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>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>. 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. <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>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. 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.“We definitely want to find all those before they find us,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/people/lindley-johnson/">Lindley Johnson</a>, Lead Program Executive for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.To do that, NASA works with a global coalition of astronomers called the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN). Here’s what they would do if an apocalyptic asteroid strike was headed toward Earth. <h2>An international warning system </h2>In the event that a dangerous asteroid is headed toward Earth, IAWN has procedures in place to notify the public. First, the party members who detected the threat would share their observations across the IAWN network to verify their findings and assess the danger.Once all parties agree that Earth should brace for impact, NASA would send out an alert.“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.”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.<h2>Hunting for asteroids </h2>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. 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>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.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.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">potentially hazardous Bennu asteroid</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">according to a 2021 study</a>.If Bennu does head toward Earth, NASA has a few tricks up its sleeve to defend our planet.<h2>Defending Earth</h2>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. 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.<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>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.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.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">there’s not much it could do to save Earth</a>.Thankfully, IAWN’s strategy is to find asteroids decades, if not centuries, before the impact. “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.

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

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have uncovered traces of what they think could be the world's largest asteroid impact. </li><li>The structure, hidden in the ground in Australia, is thought to be about 300 miles across.</li></ul>The world's largest <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-oldest-meteor-crater-australia-2020-1">asteroid impact</a>, 300 miles across, could be hidden in the Australian ground. Scientists have been tracing "magnetic" and "gravity" patterns spreading out in circles from a point about 10 miles from Deniliquin in New South Wales, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meteor-australia-stardust-older-than-sun-2020-1">Australia</a>. The structure, the scientists say, could be the remnants of an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-sizes-that-can-damage-cities-states-planet-2018-6">enormous asteroid impact</a> that hit the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. If confirmed, it would be the largest asteroid impact on record. <h2>The memory of the impact is hidden in the ground</h2>One would think finding the world's largest asteroid impact should be fairly easy. But the reality is very different. It is true that asteroid impacts <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-suggests-the-worlds-largest-known-asteroid-impact-structure-is-buried-deep-in-southeast-australia-209593">create massive geological structures</a>.The force of the impact is so strong it can bend the Earth's crust, creating ripples similar to those a rock makes when hitting a pond, Andrew Glickson, a paleo-geophysicist from the Australian Geological Survey Organization, said in a post in The Conversation August 10. But if this impact happened, hundreds of millions of years of erosions would have erased most of the visible features of the event. Still, scientists can look for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-struck-perfect-angle-to-doom-dinosaurs-study-2020-5">telltale signs</a> left behind, with a little patience, Glickson said.Five years of ground surveys around the area of Deniquilin have uncovered "radial faults," circular fractures that radiate from a central structure, Glickson and his colleague Tony Yeates said in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040195122002487?via%3Dihub">a peer-reviewed paper</a> published last year.These are accompanied by "small magnetic anomalies" around the center point. These were likely caused by molten rock oozing into the peaks and troughs left behind by the impact. Glickson said this so-called Deniliquin structure "spans up to 520 kilometers in diameter" or about 300 miles.That would be an impact bigger than any other documented on Earth. That includes the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-deepest-gold-mine-is-in-south-africa-2016-12?">Vredefort impact</a> structure in South Africa, which is thought to have been between 100 and 200 miles wide, and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chicxulub-asteroid-impact-triggered-underwater-volcanic-eruptions-2018-2">Chicxulub impact</a>, about 90 miles across, which scientists believed triggered the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. To confirm the finding, the scientists will aim to get physical evidence from the site itself. "For proof of impact, we'll need to collect physical evidence of shock, which can only come from drilling deep into the structure," said Glickson in the post. <h2>The asteroid may have caused one of Earth's mass extinctions</h2>Before the scientists can drill into the site, it will be difficult to know when exactly this asteroid would have hit.Glickson believes the impact happened when Australia was still part of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-continents-crystals-plate-tectonics-2017-1">Gondwana,</a> a supercontinent that broke off from Pangea and later turned into South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica.That would mean it would be at least 180 million years old, probably more. "Specifically, I think it may have triggered what's called the Hirnantian glaciation stage, which lasted between 445.2 and 443.8 million years ago," Glickson said in the post. This <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-3">mass extinction event</a> was caused by an ice age that wiped out <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825209001652">85% of the planet's species</a>, 350 million years before the dinosaurs were wiped out, Glickson said. But the impact could be even older. Glickson said he could see it date back up to 514 million years.

A mystery 300-mile wide formation lurking beneath Australia may be the largest asteroid impact crater on Earth

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A US military uncrewed underwater vehicle can be seen on Google Earth at a naval base in California.</li><li>The giant "Manta Ray" sea drone completed water testing in early 2024.</li></ul>The US military's giant <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-unmanned-manta-ray-submarine-passed-first-sea-test-2024-5">"Manta Ray" sea drone</a> has been spotted on Google Earth at a naval base in California.Satellite images show the drone at Naval Base Ventura County in Oxnard, close to Los Angeles.Footage of the drone taken during water testing earlier this year was also recently shared by manufacturer Northrop Grumman on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXkR0K9v5i8">YouTube</a>.The uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) completed the "full-scale" testing off the coast of southern California in February and March, the Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) <a target="_blank" href="https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2024-05-01">announced</a> in May.The new footage takes viewers on a "360-degree dive" with the vehicle, offering glimpses of its rounded shape and maneuverability.A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6cDmXFkAdM">second video</a> posted by the company also shows the drone's propulsion system."By incorporating numerous buoyancy engines, all working together efficiently, Manta Ray can operate for extended periods at a time and travel long distances at a variety of depths," the company says in the second video."It can even anchor to the sea floor and hibernate until needed," it adds.While the Manta Ray's dimensions are not publicly available, Northrop Grumman classifies the drone as an "extra-large glider UUV."<div type="image" title="The Manta Ray being towed in preparation for testing." height="316" width="619" msid="111368325" hostid="261" sizebytes="21182"></div>The Manta Ray program, launched in 2020, aims to develop payload-capable, autonomous UUVs that can operate in "long-duration, long-range missions in ocean environments."The drone's unique shape helps it save power and energy and carry "critical payloads or sensors" on lengthy missions, according to its manufacturer."Our successful, full-scale Manta Ray testing validates the vehicle's readiness to advance toward real-world operations after being rapidly assembled in the field from modular subsections," Kyle Woerner, DARPA program manager for Manta Ray, said following testing."The combination of cross-country modular transportation, in-field assembly, and subsequent deployment demonstrates a first-of-kind capability for an extra-large UUV," he added.DARPA says it is now working on the next steps for testing the drone.<div type="image" title="The Manta Ray off the coast of California this year." height="316" width="619" msid="111368324" hostid="261" sizebytes="18110"></div><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-sea-drones-with-jet-skis-sink-russia-ship-ivanovets-2024-2">Sea drones</a> have redefined traditional naval warfare in recent years. Their use in the Russia-Ukraine war has gained them widespread media attention.The relatively cheap technology has scored major hits for Ukraine on Russian battleships, including the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-says-it-destroyed-65m-warship-russia-planned-for-missile-system-2024-3">Sergei Kotov</a> patrol ship and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2024/may/what-sinking-russian-corvette-ivanovets-teaches">Ivanovets</a> corvette.Ukraine has also used sea drones to attack key infrastructure like the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-russia-fail-stop-ukrainian-drone-boat-hit-key-bridge-2023-8">Kerch Bridge</a>, Russian President Vladimir Putin's prized link between the Russian mainland and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.The threat to the Kerch Bridge appears to be significant enough for Russia to have started placing barges and other defenses in the area to reduce "the angles of approach for Ukrainian Unmanned Service Vehicles," the UK Ministry of Defence said.

Huge US military 'Manta Ray' sea drone spotted on Google Earth at California naval base

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two NASA astronauts are still in space after Boeing's Starliner spacecraft faced delays.</li><li>The spacecraft's plight adds to the pressure on Boeing.</li></ul>When Boeing announced in 2015 that its $4.2 billion spacecraft would be named Starliner, NASA officials hailed the manufacturer's innovation as a <a target="_blank" href="https://spaceflightnow.com/2015/09/04/boeing-names-its-commercial-spaceship-the-starliner/">"great victory"</a> that heralded the start of a new age of space exploration.Nearly a decade later, that new era is off to a rocky start.NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni William are still <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-nasa-starliner-astronauts-stuck-in-space-2024-6">in space</a> after the Starliner spacecraft, which was designed to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-redo-failed-nasa-spaceship-flight-to-space-station-2021-7">ferry NASA personnel to and from the International Space Station</a>, was hit by a series of issues on its maiden crewed voyage.The aviation giant's first commercial spaceship experienced <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-extends-starliner-stay-space-station-helium-leaks-thruster-issues/">malfunctioning thrusters and several helium leaks</a> as it docked with the ISS.The two astronauts aboard Starliner were planned to be at the space station for a little over a week, but Boeing and NASA have delayed their return to Earth to sometime in July.The FT reported on Wednesday that Boeing said Starliner was performing well and the astronauts were not stranded. "It is a test flight," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/0a2ab3bc-03cc-499c-82f8-50cfe1a52103">the company said.</a> "The mission is still going and it is going well."It echoes similar previous comments by both Boeing and NASA that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6pp29gdwe6o#:~:text=Nasa%20had%20earlier%20stated%20in,free%20flight%20activity%20following%20undocking.%E2%80%9D">Starliner is safe and operating effectively</a>.Officials have stressed that the latest delay is simply to allow ground teams to assess the five helium leaks and thruster issues the craft has experienced.Still, Starliner's teething issues add to the multitude of woes facing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-ceo-steps-down-read-dave-calhoun-staff-memo-2024-3">outgoing Boeing CEO David Calhoun</a>.The airplane maker has been in a state of crisis since the door plug on a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane flown by Alaska Airlines <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alaska-airlines-flight-window-portland-oregon-california-2024-1">blew out in midair earlier this year</a>.Since then, a series of whistleblowers have come forward with allegations about<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-whistleblower-777-787-plane-safety-production-2024-4"> Boeing's approach to safety</a>, with one describing a "schedule over safety" culture in which employees were pressured to "overlook" concerns.The company previously told BI that those allegations were not representative of the work it has done to "ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft."Boeing is facing federal investigations into the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-opens-criminal-investigation-alaska-airlines-blowout-report-2024-3">door blowout incident</a> and a Southwest Airlines flight, which experienced a potentially dangerous <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c722j0rryrxo">"Dutch roll" movement</a> while in the air.The company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prosecutors-recommend-doj-federal-criminal-charges-against-boeing-report-2024-6">could also soon be hit by criminal charges</a> after the Department of Justice accused it of violating a settlement agreement over two 737 Max 8 crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.It's no wonder that Boeing is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeings-candidates-for-ceo-keep-turning-it-down-wsj-2024-6">reportedly struggling</a> to recruit Calhoun's successor.The company has faced furious criticism from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/all-the-criticism-boeing-has-faced-from-airline-chiefs-for-the-737-max-2024-2">lawmakers and airlines</a>, with the CEO of Boeing's biggest customer, United, describing the Alaska Airlines incident as "the straw that broke the camel's back."At a Senate hearing last week, the company was accused of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-ceo-david-calhoun-proud-of-safety-record-senate-hearing-2024-6">"cutting corners" on safety</a>. Sen. Richard Blumenthal <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=encNQN1yg-I">described it</a> as a "moment of reckoning" for the company.Understandably, repeated Starliner delays are a setback that Boeing does not need. When it launched earlier this month, the spacecraft was already years late and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/26/boeing-has-lost-1point5-billion-developing-starliner-spacecraft-for-nasa.html">$1.5 billion over budget</a>. Boeing is also lagging behind rival SpaceX, which has been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launches-historic-rocket-mission-nasa-astronauts-demo-2-2020-5">transporting astronauts to the ISS since 2020</a>.SpaceX founder <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> never misses an opportunity to trash-talk a rival, and Boeing's plight is no exception.The billionaire has frequently criticized Boeing on X, posting that the company had too many <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-too-many-non-technical-managers-starliner-boeing-2024-5">"non-technical managers"</a> and calling out Calhoun's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-beefing-with-boeing-again-over-ceos-accountancy-degree-2024-6">lack of an engineering background</a>.NASA and Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment made outside normal working hours.

You Searched For "asteroid hitting earth 2020" and got 9 results

Scientists think they've found the origin of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. It could help prevent a future mass extinction on Earth.

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NASA scientists calculated the exact date an asteroid could hit Earth with the force of at least 24 nuclear bombs. Thankfully, it's a long way off.

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Boeing's leaking Starliner spacecraft has delayed 2 astronauts' return to Earth

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

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A mystery 300-mile wide formation lurking beneath Australia may be the largest asteroid impact crater on Earth

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Huge US military 'Manta Ray' sea drone spotted on Google Earth at California naval base

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