Terrible! There's a Big Untraceable Asteroid Approaching Earth
Through an internal email sent from one of the NASA employees revealed recently. Where the Earth is threatened by a large asteroid. Worse yet NASA can not detect it.
The asteroid referred to in the email is called 2022 OK. This happened last July where the giant asteroid surprised NASA because it suddenly appeared without any previous signs. The asteroid was only tracked after 24 hours before it crossed the Earth.
According to Lindlley Johnson, as NASA’s Planetary Defense official. The 2022 OK has a diameter of between 56 meters and 130 meters. It approached the planet within 0.00052 astronomical units or about one-fifth the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
When viewed from its size, this asteroid will provide considerable damage if it hits Earth. But just for the unwanted thing did not happen.
The Cause of the Big Asteroid That Wasn’t Detected
The contents of the email from a NASA employee also questioned what the reasons were for making the asteroid undetected. One of the factors mentioned is due to weather problems and the position of the Moon that hides the asteroid.
But whatever the reason, the asteroid failed to be detected quickly. Paul Chodas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory admitted that NASA’s detection system had been caught off guard in observing it.
This failure is considered as a warning to NASA, which has repeatedly emphasized the importance of detecting asteroids that threaten Earth as early as possible. It is hoped that they will improve the system so that the accuracy level of tracking can be more perfect in the future.
Dante Lauretta, as Principal Investigator of NASA, said that asteroids approach Earth every day. However, most asteroids are so small they burn up in the atmosphere. Although small in size asteroids can also cause damage like what happened at Chelyabinks. The smaller the asteroid, the harder it is to detect.
Thus the defense for asteroids must certainly be improved. The US National Science of Technology Council has launched a draft National Near Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan. Useful for coordinating the next 10 years in controlling the danger from asteroids.
