NASA warns of big as an aircraft asteroid heading for Earth on September 11
NASA's Artemis 1 mission is dominating the headlines these days. The Artemis Programme is NASA's first attempt to send a manned mission to the Moon since the Apollo missions in 1972. According to NASA, Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. In the midst of all the news regarding Artemis 1 mission, NASA has also issued an asteroid warning.
The space agency has warned that an asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 RE is on its way towards Earth and is expected to just miss the planet on September 11. The asteroid is as big as an aircraft with a width of nearly 68 feet. It is travelling at a staggering speed of 44,064 kilometers per hour. The Asteroid 2022 RE will make its closest approach to Earth on September 11 at a distance of just 2.29 million kilometers.
We are just a week into the month of September and we have already witnessed nearly a dozen asteroids passing by Earth closely. Asteroid 2022 RE belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. According to the-sky.org, the distance of the asteroid 2022 RE from Earth is currently 4.07 million kilometers, equivalent to 0.03 astronomical units. The asteroid completes one orbit around the Sun in 992 days.
The Artemis 1 mission was expected to launch with the help of NASA's new Space Launch System on August 29 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. However, this launch was scrubbed due to a malfunction in one of the RS-25 engines of the SLS. The launch was rescheduled for September 3 but that was scrubbed again due to a hydrogen tank leak. Now, NASA has decided to replace the seal on the rocket. Therefore, the mission launch is likely to be pushed back at least a month.
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