Author Topic: Do you know what DA14 is??? (Read 6121 times)

ped579 · « **on:** February 11, 2013, 10:24:50 PM »

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is about half the size of a football field and it’s headed right for us, or right near us, but before you start worrying about this, know that NASA says this:

The close approach of this object 2012 DA14 on February 15th in nothing to worry about. Its orbit is very well known, we know exactly where it’s going to go, and it cannot heat the Earth.

With concerns about the end of the world put to rest, lets check out some science on this bad boy. First of, the asteroid is cruising along its 17,455 mph. That’s fast. But not as fast as rockets have to go in order to escape earth gravity and get in the space. Speaking of gravity, it’s going to give the asteroid a little extra pull as it passes by. So, as this thing is closer to earth, it’s actually going to get faster. Just how close is DA14 going to get when it passes by on February 15th? More than 17,000 miles away from the planet. But keep this in mind, that’s closer to earth than a lot of gps or tv satellites. Don’t worry, NASA says, there isn’t much chance it’s going to hit those satellites either.

Let’s get hypothetical. What if an asteroid this size did hit the earth? And again, NASA says it won’t, but if it did — it might look like this — Tunguska, Russia, 1908. An asteroid around the same size came into the atmosphere, exploded and leveled the trees over an area around 820 sq. mi. Some companies want to get their hands on an asteroid, but they’re not waiting for one to come here, they’re going out there planning to hitch rides in the space on larger missions. Why would anyone want to get up close and personal with an asteroid? Well, they think these rocks could be a gold mine. Or more specifically, a hydrogen, oxygen, iron or nickel mine. Their idea is to drill in asteroids for metals and other materials and use those to power space stations. NASA looked into this idea once and decided it would be too expensive, but the companies say, it could pay off in the long run, even if the asteroid mining industry gets off to a rocky start.

hiking · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2013, 11:42:02 PM »

A lot of interesting information there, thanks for that.

first I thought it was about my haircut when I was 14

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Author Topic: Do you know what DA14 is??? (Read 6121 times)