On its way around the Sun, the Earth meets asteroids every year. While some are well known to scientists, the majority of these pieces of celestial rock, which are very difficult to observe, are only discovered at the last moment, when they sink to Earth.
This is particularly the case of the asteroid 2023 FM, discovered a few months ago and which is heading straight for us. Large enough to destroy an entire neighborhood of an average city, the asteroid should pass quite far from Earth. NASA does not yet know its precise trajectory, but it estimates the chances of contact with Earth “very close to zero”.
DW 2023: the next big danger for the Earth?
In the most likely scenario, the asteroid could pass 3 million kilometers from Earth, or 10 times the Earth-Moon distance. At such a distance, the object would not be a danger to anyone, not even the satellites present in geostationary orbit at an altitude of 3600 km.
But NASA knows it, the threat of asteroids still hangs over our heads. If the American space agency wants to be reassuring, explaining that no “planet killer” celestial object will cross our path in the next century, smaller asteroids like DW 2023 could collide with our planet.
Also discovered this year, DW 2023 is very intriguing to NASA. It is likely to come into contact with the Earth in about twenty years, during its next passage closer to the planet. It is very difficult to calculate the trajectories of asteroids over such long times, especially when we know that the slightest gravitational attraction can greatly modify the trajectory of this piece of rock.
Should we be worried about the passage of asteroids close to Earth?
DART: the ultimate anti-asteroid solution?
NASA demonstrated this by example with the DART mission. The American space agency sent a small probe weighing a few kilograms to a couple of asteroids. A few weeks after the impact, the agency noticed UE that the trajectory of the hit object had changed greatly.
This “hijacking collision” solution should save the Earth in the event of a threat of direct impact between our planet and a large asteroid. However, NASA points out that for this system to work, it must be given time to act.
It is therefore essential to continue and redouble our efforts in space research and exploration, in particular to find asteroids capable of endangering our planet Earth. NASA has estimated it will take three to six months to set up a DART-like mission in an absolute emergency for Earth.
