Near-Earth 2012 DA14 Asteroid Could Crash Into Satellites (COMSAT)
An asteroid spotted recently and named 2012 DA14 will make a close approach to Earth next February that it could pose a tint possibility of colliding with one of Earth’s communication satellites.
Communication satellites might be disrupted by newly discovered 2012 DA14 asteroid. Photo:Artisctic impression by Dieter Spannknebel/Getty Images
“The odds of an unhappy collision are slim, but we can’t rule it out,” revealed scientist Paul Chodas, from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
2012 DA14 was traced acouple of weeks ago by scientists working at Spain’s LaSagra Observatory.
The dimension of the asteroid is approximated to be around 45 meters (150 feet) but “it features a quite Earthlike orbit, which means it will approach our planet periodically”.
Calculations reveal that 2012 DA14 might interact on 15 February 2013 with some satellites thus interrupting thier activity. The ISS is safe as it circumnavigates the Earht on a low-level orbit at an altitude spanning between 391 km (perigee) and 406 km (apogee).
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Possibility for asteroid to crash on Earth?
NASA says that the probability of 2012 DA14 hitting the Earth in the coming decades is relatively small, about 0.031%.
Due the close approach, asteroid’s trajectory might be subsequently changed by Earth’s gravitational force, fact which brings uncertainty to the predictions. Thefore astronomers need to consider the likelyhood of 2012 DA14 to strike Earth on a later pass, such as the 2020 flyover.
Collision scenario!
What might happen if the asteroid crashes on Earth, e.g. in 2020? Well, we can stay somehow relaxed because NASA assures that 2012DA14 is too tiny to bring the end of the mankind (doomsday). Besides that, the troubling object is estimated to make a south approach, so Antarctica or Southern Ocean will be targeted.
However the space rock should not be overlooked as it features a 140,000 ton weight which converts into a 2.4-megaton blast energy. Hence the rock features a category ranking similar to the 1908 Tunguska explosion, a mystery occurence related to an asteroid or meteorite which demolished a large wooden area in Siberia.
In case of crash into ocean, “it would generate a tsunami, though it won’t be large”, said Chodas.