NASA to chase down asteroid across space to safeguard Earth from danger
Under a NASA uncrewed mission, the US space agency is set to launch a spacecraft to chase down a small asteroid in its attempt to study the potential danger asteroids of its size may pose to Earth. While the attention of NASA is on the big Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), the fact is that the smaller ones are far more numerous and they are dangerous too - the asteroid that exploded over Russian city of Chelyabinsk was just about 20 meters in diameter. When it exploded it destroyed windows and injured over 1600 people in 2013. Now, NASA's Artemis I mission, which actually aims to test out the SLS rockets and Orion spacecraft to send people to the moon, it is also going to serve the purpose of sending a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout spacecraft to chase an asteroid named 2020 GE. It will see NASA doing a first too. According to phys.org, it will "...become the smallest asteroid ever to be visited by a spacecraft".
The Near-Earth Asteroid Scout spacecraft that NASA is planning to send is extremely small, in fact, it is as small as a shoebox. It will reach the targetted asteroid by unfurling a solar sail and use solar radiation as propulsion.
How will the Scout spacecraft study the 2020 GE asteroid?
Asteroids with a diameter of less than 330 feet (100 metres) have never been observed up close before. The spacecraft's science camera will be used to take a closer look at the 2020 GE asteroid while measuring its various aspects including size, shape, and surface to glean more information about its make up. The mission's science team will be able to determine whether 2020 GE is solid or not. This will be made possible by the Scout camera that can capture resolutions under 4 inches per pixel.
The asteroid mission will provide valuable
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