NASA Plans To Visit Potentially Dangerous Asteroid That Reaches Earth 2029

Writer: Arif Budianto

KONTAN.CO.ID – NASA plans to visit a potentially dangerous asteroid that will reach Earth in seven years, in 2023 to be exact. This potentially dangerous asteroid named Apophis is the size of the Empire State building in the United States.

Asteroids are one of the celestial bodies that often pose a threat to Earth. Although most asteroids when heading to Earth will be destroyed in the atmosphere, but still this space rock is worrying.

Recently, experts discovered that seven years from now, or rather know 2029 a very large space rock will visit planet Earth.

Launch Science Times (18/04/2022), this celestial body known as Apophis is expected to reach Earth on April 13, 2029.

Some people may be lucky to see this asteroid hovering in the sky, if it passes through the orbital area where the satellite is currently located.

According to scientists, Apophis is categorized as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” (Potentially Hazardous Asteroid). As long as they are near Earth, these space rocks will fly across orbits full of geosynchronous instruments.

Asteroid Apophis will approach Earth in the closest distance of about 37,000 Km (Kilometers). First discovered in 2005, the asteroid has a size of more than 340 meters.

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Meanwhile, a report from Forbes revealed that the size is as big as the Empire State building in Manhattan, United States.

The skyscraper has 102 floors, with a height up to the roof of 380 meters.

Actually, experts already know that the event of the arrival of the asteroid Apophis to Earth will occur. According to experts, an asteroid the size of Apophis is expected to fly close to Earth at least once in a thousand years.

The good news, this Apophis asteroid will not cause any impact on Earth. However, experts theorize that the passage of this particular asteroid in 2029 was a successful visit.

This is because Apophis’s close distance can affect its trajectory. If this happens, the space rock will probably fly again sometime in 2060 or 2068.

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Meanwhile, NASA is not entirely convinced by the estimate. Therefore, they intended to visit this space rock that was the size of the Empire State building.

NASA’s plan to visit the asteroid will be realized in the Apophis 2029 Planetary Defense Mission (PDM). This mission is reportedly included in a larger study than Decadal Survey for Planetary and Astrobiology and performed by experts from National Academy of Sciences.

The Apophis 2029 PDM mission is planned to meet the celestial body in the form of a space rock, several months before its closest visit to Earth.

The main objectives of the Apophis 2029 PDM mission at launch were to make a risk impact assessment, identify the physical properties of rocks and interior compounds, and map their entire structure before they appear in our orbital region (Earth).

The Apophis 2029 PDM mission is also an indirect follow-up to the DART mission which changes the position and trajectory of space rocks by crashing into them.