"I think that, overall, the situation has improved."Precision counts I think that, overall, the situation has improved.- Davide Farnocchia, study lead authorOSIRIS-REx (formally known as Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) launched in September 2016 and slipped into orbit around the asteroid Bennu in December 2018.After its arrival, the spacecraft spent nearly two and a half years studying the space rock from orbit, swooping in, hovering overhead and inspecting the rock in every way possible."The trajectory of the spacecraft was really amazing - I compare it to a hummingbird," Dante Lauretta, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx and an author on the new research, said during the news conference. And besides, the lessons the research offers for asteroid trajectory calculation could reduce concerns about potential impacts by other asteroids more than enough to compensate."The impact probability went up just a little bit but it's not a significant change, the impact probability is pretty much the same," lead author Davide Farnocchia, who works at NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies in California, said during a news conference held Wednesday (Aug. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)Technically, that's a small increase in risk, but the scientists behind the new research say they aren't worried about a potential impact. While a slightly higher risk than past estimates, it represents a minuscule change in an already minuscule risk, NASA said.Related: NASA spacecraft leaves asteroid Bennu to bring pieces to EarthRead more: How OSIRIS-REx's team creates those asteroid Bennu photosAn image of the asteroid Bennu produced by the OSIRIS-REx mission. Estimates produced before OSIRIS-REx arrived at the space rock tallied the cumulative probability of a Bennu impact between the years 21 at 1 in 2,700, according to NASA.
And with that incredibly detailed view of the asteroid, experts studying potential space rock impacts with Earth have been able to fine-tune their existing models of Bennu's future.As a result, scientists behind new research now say they're confident that the asteroid's total impact probability through 2300 is just 1 in 1,750. If the possibility of an asteroid called Bennu slamming into Earth a lifetime from now was keeping you up at night, NASA scientists think you can rest a little easier.The agency's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spent more than two years closely orbiting the space rock.
0 kommentar(er)
