Latest news with #NEOSurveyor
Sustainability Times
16 hours ago
- Science
- Sustainability Times
'They're Hiding in the Sun's Glare': Astronomers Detect Giant Asteroids Near Venus That Could Someday Strike Earth
IN A NUTSHELL 🌌 Recent studies reveal that a hidden population of co-orbital asteroids near Venus might eventually shift closer to Earth. near Venus might eventually shift closer to Earth. 🔭 These asteroids, residing in gravitationally stable Lagrange points , exhibit unpredictable orbits over millennia. , exhibit unpredictable orbits over millennia. 🚀 The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory and NASA's NEO Surveyor are expected to enhance detection capabilities. and NASA's are expected to enhance detection capabilities. 🌍 Understanding and monitoring these asteroids is crucial for assessing any potential long-term risks to our planet. In the vast expanse of our solar system, hidden populations of celestial bodies often go unnoticed. Among these are a group of asteroids known as co-orbitals, which share their path with Venus around the Sun. While their existence has been acknowledged for years, recent studies suggest that some of these asteroids might eventually take a course leading them closer to Earth. Although there is no immediate threat, this revelation emphasizes the importance of keeping a vigilant eye on these elusive objects. Unpredictable Orbits The co-orbital asteroids of Venus reside in gravitationally stable regions known as Lagrange points. According to simulations, these asteroids can develop unstable trajectories over periods exceeding 12,000 years, potentially adopting elongated orbits that increase their likelihood of intersecting with Earth's orbit. Among the 20 identified co-orbitals, three have been projected to approach our planet. These projections, shared in the journal Icarus, pertain to asteroids measuring between 984 and 1,312 feet in diameter. While their size categorizes them as potentially hazardous, none pose a threat for several millennia. The gravitational disturbances these asteroids experience lead to chaotic paths over the long term. A secondary study, currently under review, reinforces this instability even for orbits that initially appear to be less eccentric. This unpredictable nature makes understanding their movements critical for assessing any future risk they might pose to Earth. 'NASA Unveils Cosmic Spectacle': Stunning New Images and Sounds of Andromeda Galaxy Leave Astronomers in Absolute Awe Complex Detection Challenges Detecting these asteroids is a challenging endeavor due to their proximity to the Sun. Terrestrial telescopes can only observe them briefly during twilight hours, with solar brightness and atmospheric distortion significantly hindering detection efforts. However, future advancements in technology promise to revolutionize this search. The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile is poised to transform asteroid detection. With its extensive field of view and enhanced sensitivity, it could uncover thousands of new asteroids, including those concealed near Venus. Complementing these efforts, a space-based infrared telescope like NASA's NEO Surveyor would bypass atmospheric interference, providing a clearer picture. These tools are expected to offer a more accurate assessment of any potential risks. Currently, scientists reiterate that there is no immediate threat from these celestial wanderers. 'We Finally Found It': Scientists Reveal the Missing Half of the Universe's Matter Was Hiding in Plain Sight All Along Future Implications and Preparedness The potential for these co-orbital asteroids to alter their paths and come closer to Earth raises important questions about planetary defense and preparedness. While the immediate danger is non-existent, understanding their movements could be crucial in the distant future. The unpredictable nature of their orbits suggests that continued monitoring and research are necessary. By expanding our observational capabilities and refining our understanding of these celestial objects, we can better prepare for any eventualities. The studies underscore the need for international collaboration in tracking and analyzing these asteroids. As we advance our technological capabilities, the hope is to mitigate any long-term risks they might pose to our planet. 'Trees Are Poisoning the Air': Shocking New Study Reveals Natural Plant Defenses May Be Making Pollution Worse Enhancing Our Observational Arsenal To effectively monitor these elusive asteroids, the astronomical community is turning to innovative technologies and methods. The combination of ground-based observatories like the Vera Rubin Observatory and space-based instruments such as the NEO Surveyor is expected to significantly enhance our ability to detect and track these asteroids. These advancements will not only improve our understanding of the asteroids' trajectories but also help refine models predicting their future paths. With a more comprehensive observational arsenal, scientists aim to provide earlier warnings of any potential threats and formulate strategies to address them. This proactive approach is essential for ensuring the safety of our planet in the centuries to come. As we continue to explore the mysteries of our solar system, the presence of these hidden asteroids reminds us of the dynamic nature of the cosmos. While current observations assure us of no imminent threat, the question remains: how can we further enhance our capabilities to safeguard Earth from the unknowns of space? Our author used artificial intelligence to enhance this article. Did you like it? 4.7/5 (29)
Hans India
4 days ago
- Science
- Hans India
Asteroid 2025 MV89 to Pass Near Earth on July 4
NASA says a small space rock named Asteroid 2025 MV89 will pass close to Earth on July 4, 2025, at 9:09 PM IST. It is about 120 feet wide, the size of a big airplane. How Fast and How Close? The asteroid is moving very fast — at 31,204 km per hour. It will pass Earth from a distance of 1,960,000 kilometers, which is about 5 times farther than the Moon. That is close for space, but still very safe. Is It Dangerous? No. NASA says it is not dangerous. It is too small and too far to be a threat. Big and very close asteroids are called 'Potentially Hazardous,' but this one is not. Why Does NASA Watch Asteroids? NASA watches space rocks using strong telescopes like Pan-STARRS, Catalina, and NEOWISE. These tools help find and track asteroids. NASA is also making a new tool called NEO Surveyor to find more space rocks early. Final Point Asteroid 2025 MV89 will pass safely. But it reminds us that watching space is important. NASA helps keep Earth safe by tracking these rocks early.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
US Representatives worry Trump's NASA budget plan will make it harder to track dangerous asteroids
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. On Thursday (May 15), the U.S. House Committee on Space, Science and Technology convened with scientists to discuss a rather exciting topic: What can NASA do if we identify a dangerous asteroid on a collision course with Earth? It was an especially prudent subject given all the recent fuss about asteroid 2024 YR4, which had a notable chance of hitting our planet before scientists refined its position and deemed it harmless. Most of Thursday's conversation surrounded the agency's highly anticipated Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which should greatly improve hazardous asteroid detection capabilities as a whole. However, there were also many efforts to address the elephant in the room: the Trump administration's recently announced intention to slash NASA's top-line funding by 24% for the upcoming fiscal year. The proposed cut to the agency's science programs — which includes its planetary defense work — is even deeper, at 47%. Outlined in the White House's "skinny budget proposal," as it's called, the top-line reduction would be the "largest single-year cut to NASA in American history." "If enacted, the Trump administration's skinny budget proposal risks putting NASA on a path to irrelevance," Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-North Carolina) said during the hearing. "It threatens our economic and national security, surrenders U.S. leadership and space to our adversaries, and jeopardizes our competitiveness and standing on the world stage. That's a strategic posture I simply cannot accept." The NEO Surveyor mission is the first space telescope that'll be dedicated to locating asteroids that could threaten Earth, NASA says. It's the agency's next big step in upping the nation's planetary defense game, which was really brought to the forefront for the public in 2022 with the DART mission. DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, sent a spacecraft to smash into an asteroid called Dimorpohos. Dimorphos orbits a larger asteroid, called Didymos. Neither threatened us, to be clear, as this was just a proof-of-concept mission. The goal was to see whether this impact would adjust Dimorphos' trajectory around Didymos; if so, it would suggest that a spacecraft can one day be sent to an actually threatening asteroid to knock it off a potential collision course with Earth. DART worked beautifully, but it could use a little help. NEO Surveyor is more of a prophylactic measure for planetary defense. It'll be the thing that spots the asteroid we may want to smash a future DART craft into. "We do not know of any sizable object that has a significant risk of impacting Earth in the next 100 years — however, there are a lot more to be found," Nicola Fox, the associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said during the hearing. "The mission will improve NASA's ability to discover and then define the sizes and the orbits of the NEOs to understand the hazard they actually pose to us," she added. "Finding those potentially hazardous asteroids remains a top priority for NASA's planetary defense program." One of the most promising aspects of NEO Surveyor is the fact that it'll be able to pinpoint NEOs by way of infrared detection. Infrared wavelengths aren't visible to human eyes and most human technology; they're usually thought of as heat signatures. Firefighters, for instance, can use infrared wavelengths to understand fire distribution in a burning building. This detection strategy should yield a higher target hit rate when compared to traditional methods, which are usually based on whether sunlight reflects off an NEO. In fact, an issue with relying purely on sunlight for NEO hunting was illustrated with the Chelyabinsk asteroid that exploded over Russia in 2013, which damaged many buildings and injured over 1,000 people. "The blast released energy equivalent to about 440 kilotons of TNT, more than 30 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb, shattering windows, injuring thousands and causing millions of dollars in property damage in Russia. Because the asteroid approached from the direction of the sun, it was undetectable by ground-based telescopes and went untracked," Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), who currently serves as the chairman of the House Committee on Space, Science and Technology, said during the hearing. Though NEO Surveyor still won't be able to detect a possibly hazardous asteroid coming straight from the direction of the sun, it'll enable observations of NEOs super-close to our star, Fox said. "It'll help us find the objects, including the dark fraction of the population, which we think is sort of roughly 35 to 40% or so of the population," Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for the NEO Surveyor mission and a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said during the hearing. "It will also help us measure the sizes, because we can quickly convert the infrared fluxes into a diameter as soon as we get an orbit from the Minor Planet Center … That's such an important component to the impact energy." "We track the orbits of all 38,000 currently known NEOs, including the more than two and a half thousand potentially hazardous ones, and an impact by any one of those would be devastating," Matthew Payne, director of the Minor Planet Center, said during the hearing. Fox said that NEO Surveyor should be ready to launch by 2028, perhaps sooner, but that is of course assuming the mission gets the funding it needs. "Passback documents" — a sort of preview of the White House's 2026 budget request— suggested that the proposed cuts could lead to the closure of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The prospect of shutting down such a key agency research facility worries scientists, and it came up during the hearing. Fox was asked, theoretically, what would happen if NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, which plays a vital role in planetary defense, were to be shut down. "If [NASA Ames] were no longer able to do the the the assessment, what we would lose is really the ability to give our sort of early expert advice to [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], which is then responsible for deciding where the perimeter is and what the response is to protect as much human life as possible," Fox said. Payne said that, at present, the Minor Planet Center hasn't been affected by the proposed cuts; Mainzer said she's uncertain how the cuts might affect NEO Surveyor's operations. She also emphasized how expensive it can be to train scientists like herself to lead such an important mission. "We really do have to have the investment and the time that it takes to learn the science, to be able to do it well," Mainzer said. Fox echoed the uncertainty, responding to nearly all questions concerning Trump's skinny budget with the answer that she needs to see the finalized budget before coming to conclusions. "We await the full president's budget so we can see the priorities in the direction on which missions may be supported or not supported," she said. "It's clear that planetary defense leverages many of our federal [science and technology] agencies. Now, whether that federal agency continues — whether that expertise continues — I think, is now in question," Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) said during the hearing. Other Trump-instigated orders, like widespread layoffs of probationary employees and deferred resignation programs, are creating a "brain drain," she added. Recent executive orders, for instance, have seen the rapid federal layoffs of over 800 workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who monitor natural disasters such as hurricanes and forecast daily weather patterns. The deferred resignation program is a sort of roundabout way of laying off employees, offering them payment through a certain month if they leave of their own accord. "A very reasonable question is whether NASA should, in fact, be spending more money on asteroid monitoring and defense given the catastrophic risk to our country and civilization," Rep. George Whitesides (D-California), who used to work at NASA in a leadership position, said during the hearing. "As several members have mentioned already, our leadership in this area, like so many areas of space and Earth science, are under threat now from the proposed cuts to NASA's budget, as well as the budgets of other science agencies." "We're talking about impacts that can actually wipe out an entire region, lay waste to a country or devastate the planet. And, you know, this is something that we can do something about. Actually, this is a natural disaster that is 100% preventable if we do our homework," Payne said. Related Stories: — Reshaping our return to the moon: Trump's 2026 budget gives Artemis a major facelift — Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back' — Trump administration cancels lease for NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies lab in New York City Of note, Rep. Foushee asked both Payne and Mainzer how much NEO tracking could improve if artificial intelligence could be implemented in the workflow. Both agreed that training systems with AI would lead to more accurate and more rapid results, but when Foushee inquired how much funding would be necessary to realistically perform such AI implementation, the question was deferred to Fox. "Adequate funding is certainly a major thing," Fox said. Exactly how our planetary defense strategies may be affected hinges on the details of Trump's budget, which have not yet been released. (And Congress still has to enact a budget, which remains a proposal until that happens.) If the White House indeed cuts back on funding for these efforts, Fox said NASA may be able to rely on global partners for hazardous NEO tracking. "If we can't all unite on a large chunk hurtling towards the planet, what are we going to unite on?" Fox said.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Donald Trump's NASA budget: Why it may make it difficult to track asteroids approaching Earth
The discussion around the possibility of an asteroid hitting the Earth mostly remains a topic of speculation among scientists and enthusiasts. Keeping the recent speculation about YR4 and other asteroids making rounds near the Earth, NASA has been developing new equipment to detect and track potentially hazardous asteroids. However, recent budget proposals by the Trump administration might threaten to derail this important planetary defense initiative. What budget cuts has Trump proposed for NASA? According to reports by Time and ArcsTechnia, President Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal includes a 24% reduction in NASA's overall funding, dropping it from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion, which is also the lowest since 2015. More concerning is the nearly 50% cut to the Science Mission Directorate, reducing its budget from $7.5 billion to $3.9 billion. This drastic reduction hampers and fiddles with numerous scientific programs, including planetary defense efforts like the NEO Surveyor mission . How does this impact the planetary defense system? The NEO Surveyor mission is NASA's next step in planetary defense, aiming to detect and characterise near-Earth objects (NEOs) that could be a possible threat to our planet. By operating in infrared wavelengths, it can identify asteroids that are invisible to optical telescopes. Delays or cancellations of this mission would leave Earth vulnerable to potential impacts from undetected asteroids. The budget has been partially restored In response to the proposed budget cuts, the House Appropriations Committee has partially restored funding for the NEO Surveyor mission, allocating $94.9 million. While this is a step in the right direction, it falls short of the $170 million, which NASA had requested to maintain the mission's timeline. The committee has urged NASA to provide a revised launch schedule that ensures the mission proceeds without further delays, as reported by Space News. The proposed budget cuts impact beyond planetary defense systems. Various other programs, such as the Mars Sample Return mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and the Space Launch System, are also on the edge. The Politico reported that former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson criticised the proposed budget cuts, likening them to attacking the agency with "a chainsaw and a meat-ax." He warned that such drastic reductions would severely harm NASA's core scientific research and technological development, potentially plunging the agency "into a dark age."
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA to launch asteroid hunting spacecraft in 2027
PASADENA, Calif. — After NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday, the space agency is gearing up for another project: a spacecraft targeting asteroids. A NewsNation exclusive reveals NASA's high-tech plan to save Earth if an asteroid ever comes barreling toward the planet. The NEO Surveyor, set to launch in 2027, is the first spacecraft specifically designed to hunt large asteroids and comets that could harm Earth. NewsNation got a look at the NEO Surveyor, which is being built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. After its launch, the NEO Surveyor will be able to spot about 90 percent of asteroids and comets that might pose a hazard to Earth within a range of about 30 million miles. Those that are smaller than about 500 feet in diameter are nearly impossible to see from Earth but not from space. The NEO Surveyor's infrared technology will also be capable of measuring the size and composition of these fast-moving objects. 'We're looking for near-Earth objects — those are the objects that are within the same sort of orbit as the Earth. And the reason we want to look for those is some of those have the potential to impact the Earth,' NASA NEO Surveyor project manager Tom Hoffman told NewsNation. 'So, with this particular project, we'll be looking for those in this very special spectrum called infrared, trying to detect them and find them before they find us,' he added. The Surveyor's announcement comes as scientists have almost fully ruled out any threat from the asteroid 2024 YR4. At one point, the odds of a strike in 2032 were as high as about 3 percent and topped the world's asteroid-risk lists. ESA has since lowered the odds to 0.001 percent. NASA has it down to 0.0017 percent — meaning the asteroid will safely pass Earth in 2032 and there's no threat of impact for the next century. NASA has already proved it is capable of redirecting an asteroid, should one pose a serious threat to Earth. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
