This year, humanity has witnessed two experiments to deflect asteroids that approach Earth: DART Y HAARPboth of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, for its acronym in English).
The first consisted of sending a ship against the rock Y, the second, made this week, to launch radio signals.
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), It consists of using radio signals to hit objects in orbit.
It is done with several antennas, which belonged to the United States Air Force and since 2015 are controlled by the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). This institution worked with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to carry out the experiment on Tuesday.
The antennas are located in the town of Gakona, Alaska, in temperatures that drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
mark haynesNASA principal investigator and engineer, explained: “What’s new and what we’re trying to do is probe the interiors of asteroids with long-wavelength radar and radio telescopes from Earth. Longer wavelengths can penetrate the interior of an object”.
“If you know the distribution of mass, you can make an impactor more effective, because you’ll know a bit better where to hit the asteroid.”, he added.
NASA’s HAARP experiment against asteroid 2010 XC15:
UAF and NASA scientists “hit” the 2010 XC15 space rock, as part of a preparation against the Apophis asteroid. It is believed that on April 13, 2029, Apophis will be ten times closer to Earth than the Moon.
Using the HAARP array, 9.6 megahertz radio waves were fired at asteroid 2010 XC15. With them, their shape, trajectory, surface structure and more were found out, although they are expected to publish the results in the future.
HAARP fired out 9.6 million radio waves every second. The process was repeated, as stipulated, every two seconds.
As an experiment, we will soon find out how successful it was. By 2029, the result is expected to be further improved, this time with the asteroid Apophis, preparing us for a major defense of Earth.
