A group of researchers Try Radio signals are bounced off a 500-foot-wide asteroid during its flyby Land Tuesday.
The High Frequency Active Aurora Program (HAARP) aims to point its antennas At asteroid 2010 XC15, a space rock is classified as a near-Earth asteroid is potentially dangerous. Effort is a trial run to prepare for a bigger body, known as Apophi, Which will have a close encounter with our planet in 2029.
“What’s new and what we’re trying to do is explore the interior of asteroids using longwave radar and radio telescopes from Earth,” said Mark Hynes, project principal investigator and radar systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. a declaration. “Longer wavelengths can penetrate the body much better than radio wavelengths used for communications.”
HAARP is a research facility in Gakona, Alaska (one of which was Subject of many conspiracy theories). It is made up of 180 high-frequency antennas, each 72 feet high and spanning 33 acres. the A structure that sends radio packets to The ionosphere, the ionized part of the atmosphere Located About 50 to 400 miles (80 to 600 kilometers) above the earth’s surface. HAARP sends radio signals into the ionosphere and waits to see how they return, in an effort to measure disturbances caused by the sun, among other things.
Business Launch a science campaign in October With 13 experiments, including one that predicted bounce signals from the moon. At that time, HAARP researchers He’s thinking of sending a radio signal to an asteroid to examine the interior of the rocky body.
During today’s experiment, TJHAARP antennas in Alaska will send radio signals to the asteroid, And then the scientists Check If the reflected signals come in a Antenna array at the University of New Mexico Long Wavelength Array and approx Owens Valley Radio Observatory long wavelength array.
HAARP will continuously broadcast a chirp signal just above and below 9.6 MHz; The chirp will repeat every two seconds. At its closest approach on Dec. 27, the asteroid will be about twice the distance from the Moon to Earth.
Tuesday’s experiment aims to prepare for an imminent asteroid encounter in 2029. This potentially dangerous asteroid, officially known as 99942 Apophis, about 1210 feet (370 meters) widewill enter 20,000 miles (32,000 km) i Earth on April 13, 2029. The NEO was thought to pose little danger to Earth in the year 2068, but NASA ruled it out.
However, HAARP wants to survey the asteroid to prepare for potential dangers in the future Space rocks. “The longer it takes before a potential impact occurs, the more options there are to try and distract,” Haynes said.
In September, NASA’s DART spacecraft RightSwinging in a small file asteroid And managed to change its orbit. Such a strategy can be single A way to transform space rocks that threaten Land.
Today Medical examination Shows the possibility of using longwave radio signals for investigations inside asteroids. “If we can get ground systems working, that will give us lots of opportunities to try and do internal sensing of these things,” Heinz said.
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