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NASA wants to deflect an asteroid in 2022: 4 reasons why

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Dook Domini

ESAScience Office An illustration of the plume and crater left by NASA's dart probe after crashing into an asteroid a test of technologies intended to help us deflect asteroids in the future.

In 2022, NASA plans to send a probe crashing into an asteroid at more than 13,000 miles per hour to deflect it off its course.

This particular asteroid isn't a threat to us. But NASA is trying to figure out how it might defend Earth from asteroids more generally in case a big one really does head our way in the future.

This is all part of a joint mission NASA's planning with the European Space Agency called Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA). It will start with the launch of a European craft in 2020 to study and map the asteroid first. ESA entered the preliminary design phase of that initial reconnaissance mission earlier this week.

The goal is to develop the technology and expertise that might be necessary to nudge an asteroid out of its orbit if we ever discovered one heading for Earth. It might sound far-fetched, but the truth is that asteroids are a potentially serious threat and foresighted missions like this could theoretically be the difference between a closely averted disaster and catastrophe.

1. The plan to crash into an asteroid

In 2020, the European Space Agency plans to launch its Asteroid Impact Mission, or AIM probe. It'll travel to an asteroid named Didymos, which is orbited by a relatively small (about 550 feet wide) asteroid called Didymoon.

Over the course of a year or so, AIM will orbit Didymoon, mapping its surface and collecting data on its mass and overall structure. Current plans also call for it to send out a pair of smaller satellites to collect more data, as well as a lander that would touch down on Didymoon itself becoming just the fourth craft (if Japan's current Hayabusa-2 mission is a success) to make a controlled landing on an asteroid.

Then, in 2021, NASA would launch another probe, called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART. When it arrives in late 2022, the 660-pound probe would crash into Didymoon at a speed of more than 13,000 miles per hour, likely creating a crater and slightly changing the path of the asteroid's orbit. AIM would continue to collect data on Didymoon, providing valuable information on the physics of redirecting asteroids in space.

2. NASA is trying to avoid a chain reaction of asteroids

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NASA wants to deflect an asteroid in 2022: 4 reasons why

NASA World Map Shows Where Lightning Strikes Most

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Dook Domini

By now, we hope, youve abandoned that old folk myth that lightning never strikes twice. (In fact, a 1997 study found that lighting flashesstrike multiple spots simultaneously about a third of the time, and that your chances of being struck are about 45 percent higher than the number of flashes would seem to indicate).

So now that weve gotten that out of the way, heres another burning question: Where does lightning strike most frequently on the planet? As it turns out, those brainy folks at NASA have the answer.

NEWS: Man Struck By Lightning Twice

Between 1998 and 2013, NASAsTropical Rainfall Measuring MissionandOrbView-1/Microlabsatellites gathered data on the number and location of lightning flashes worldwide, and what they found is shown on the map above. As it turns out, lightning tends to happen most often in areas closest to the equator, and more often over land than over the oceans.

That makes sense, because asNASAs Earth Observatory websiteexplains,solid earth absorbs sunlight and heats up faster than water. That results in stronger convection and greater atmospheric instability, which leads to the production of the sort of storms that produce lightning.

The spots on the planet with the highest amount of lightning turn out to be Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela, where the combination of heat, humidity and wind from the surrounding Andes mountain range causes spectacular storms, and the far eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

NEWS: Mushroom Clouds Form Over Idaho Lightning Fires

According toReuters, the Lake Maraciabo area has lightning storms 300 nights each year, and each kilometer of the area is hit by 250 lightning strikes annually.

NASA scientist Daniel Cecil noted on the Earth Observatory website that the new map is far more detailed thanprevious effortsto chart global lightning.The longer record allows us to more confidently identify some of these finer details, he said. We can examine seasonality, and variability through the day and year-to-year.

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NASA World Map Shows Where Lightning Strikes Most

Nasa prepares to test its 'flying saucer' heat shield

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Dook Domini

Nasa will fly its new heat shield from Hawaii in a couple of months Tomorrow it will perform a spin-test of the new technology It is known as the low density supersonic decelerator (LDSD) Nasa says it could one day be used to take humans onto Mars

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline

Published: 08:08 EST, 30 March 2015 | Updated: 17:18 EST, 3 April 2015

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When the first astronauts land on Mars, they will not use a conventional parachute or heat shield that has been used before.

Instead, upon impacting the upper Martian atmosphere, a large inflatable saucer-shaped structure will slow their progress.

This is the low density supersonic decelerator (LDSD) and, in June, Nasa will perform the latest test of this groundbreaking technology - a vital next step in the journey to Mars.

Scroll down for a video from last year's test