Content tagged "planetary defense".
3 items (3 articles, 0 stories)
On April 13, 2029, asteroid Apophis will skim past Earth at just 32,000 km — closer than geostationary satellites. During this once-in-10,000-year flyby, Earth's gravity will physically reshape the rock in real time. ESA and JAXA's Ramses mission will be there to document it.
In 2022, NASA slammed a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos and changed its orbit — the first time humanity had ever deflected a space rock. Now ESA's Hera mission is heading there to examine the aftermath. Here's how far planetary defense has come.
Using the naming of asteroid 'Torifune' as a starting point, we dig into what it means to give a name to a rock in space — IAU naming rules, the intersection of Japanese mythology and outer space, and the planetary defense mission driving Hayabusa2 forward.