Science & Space
NASA's Next-Generation Asteroid Hunter: NEO Surveyor
On February 15, 2023, a house-sized meteor entered the earth's atmosphere at over 40,000 mph or 64373.76 kph and 14 miles or 22.5308 kilometers above Chelyabinsk, Russia, causing a shock-wave that shattered windows and damaged buildings in several Russian cities, injuring 1,600 people and generating 30 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
And such occurrences are not uncommon for any of the solar system's celestial bodies. Every planet and moon has been and continues to be bombarded by foreign bodies on a daily basis. But none of the events can hold our attention because we lack the resources to track every celestial event in the solar system; we only track massive events. The collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994 was one of the most significant.
The events on Earth are being tracked by ground-based telescopes and occasionally by space telescopes, but these efforts are insufficient to protect the human species from the Jurassic impact. The Jurassic asteroid was enormous, measuring between 10 and 15 kilometers wide. It formed Chicxulub Crater, the world's second-largest creator, with a 150-kilometer diameter in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The asteroid wiped out entire dinosaur species from the face of the earth.
To protect the human species from such a lethal impact, countries, particularly the United States' NASA and other space agencies, are taking precautionary measures to detect and destroy objects using every available resource. NASA has already developed and demonstrated such capability to divert objects away from the Earth's impacting path and sway the object out of Earth's orbit. That technology knows as Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).
NASA needs to detect objects first before using this technology, which is why NASA is developing the Near Earth Object Surveyor space telescope, which will advance NASA's planetary defense efforts by finding and tracking Near Earth Objects (NEO) using ultraviolet rays.
A space telescope designed to search for the most difficult-to-find asteroids and comets that stray into Earth's orbit. These are the Near Earth Objects(NEO) orbiting around the sun within 1.3 astronomical units (AU) or 1.208e+8 miles or 1.945e+8 kilometers. If a NEO's orbit crosses that of the Earth and the object is larger than 140 meters (460 feet), it is classified as potentially hazardous (PHO).
There are over 30,000 Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and over a hundred known short-period near-Earth comets (NECs) orbiting the sun, some of which are dangerously close to the Earth. Therefore, the primary goal of the Near Earth Object Surveyor space telescope will be to track their movements and keep a constant eye on them.
The mission is in the final stages of design and fabrication, where it will establish technical, cost, and schedule baselines. Following that, production will begin because the deadline for launching this eye into space is 2026.
The mission contributes to the goals of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which is based at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 mandated that NASA discover and characterize at least 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters (460 feet) in diameter that passes within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet's orbit. Objects of this size have the potential to cause significant regional damage, if not worse if they collide with the Earth.
The project is being handled by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in California. The NEO Surveyor will first be placed in Lagrange Point 1 between the Earth and the Sun, where it will orbit for the next five years.
From Lagrange Point 1, The NEO Surveyor will observe the solar system in infrared wavelengths that the human eye cannot see. Because those wavelengths are mostly blocked by the Earth's atmosphere, larger ground-based observatories may miss near-Earth objects that this space telescope can detect thanks to its modest light-collecting aperture of nearly 20 inches or 50 centimeters or 0.5 meters.
NEO Surveyor's cutting-edge detectors are designed to observe two heat-sensitive infrared bands that were specifically chosen to track the most difficult-to-find near-Earth objects, such as dark asteroids and comets that don't reflect much visible light. Because they are heated by sunlight, these objects glow in the infrared wavelengths to which NEO Surveyor is sensitive.
The NEO Surveyor will also be able to detect asteroids approaching Earth from the Sun's direction, as well as those that lead and trail our planet's orbit, where they are typically obscured by the glare of sunlight - these are known as Earth Trojans.
Therefore, there is no doubt about the efficiency and accuracy of the space telescope. The world is just waiting for it to be launched by NASA.
NASA's Next Generation Asteroid Hunter: NEO Surveyor: Mnamo Februari 15, 2023, meteor iliyokuwa na ukubwa wa nyumba iliingia angahewa la dunia kwa kasi ya zaidi ya kilomita 40,000 kwa saa (6433.76 kmh) na kilomita 14 (kilomita 22.530) juu ya Chelyabinsk, Urusi, ikisababisha mawimbi ya mshtuko ambayo yalisababisha madirisha kuvunjika na majengo kuharibiwa katika miji kadhaa ya Urusi, na kujeruhi watu 1,600 na kuzalisha nishati mara 30 ya bomu la atomiki la Hiroshima. Na matukio kama hayo si ya kawaida kwa yoyote ya miili ya angani ya mfumo wa jua. Kila sayari na mwezi umekuwa na unaendelea kupigwa mabomu na miili ya kigeni kila siku. Lakini hakuna tukio linaloweza kukamata tahadhari yetu kwa sababu hatuna rasilimali za kufuatilia kila tukio la angani katika mfumo wa jua; tunafuatilia tu matukio makubwa. Mshuko wa kometi Shoemaker-Levy 9 ulifanyika mwaka 1994 na ni mojawapo ya matukio makubwa zaidi ya kibiolojia. Matukio ya sayari ya Dunia yanafuatwa na darubini za angani na mara kwa mara na darubini za angani, lakini juhudi hizi hazitoshi kulinda spishi ya binadamu kutoka kwa athari ya Jurassic. Asteroid ya Jurassic ilikuwa kubwa sana, na ilipima kati ya kilomita 10 na 15 kwa upana. Mlipuko huo unaitwa Chicxulub Crater na una urefu wa kilomita 150 katika peninsula ya Yucatan nchini Mexico. Asteroidi hiyo ilifuta spishi nzima za dinosaur kutoka kwenye uso wa dunia. Ili kuwalinda wanadamu kutokana na athari mbaya kama hiyo, nchi, hasa NASA ya Marekani na mashirika mengine ya angani, zinachukua hatua za tahadhari kugundua na kuharibu vitu kwa kutumia rasilimali zote zinazopatikana. NASA tayari imesitawisha na kuonyesha uwezo kama huo wa kugeuza vitu mbali na njia ya athari ya Dunia na kugeuza kitu nje ya mzunguko wa Dunia. "Tatizo hilo linajulikana kama ""Double Asteroid Redirection Test"" (DART)." NASA inahitaji kugundua vitu kabla ya kutumia teknolojia hii, na kwa hivyo NASA inaendeleza darubini ya anga ya Near Earth Object Surveyor, ambayo itaendeleza juhudi za NASA za ulinzi wa sayari kwa kupata na kufuatilia vitu vya karibu na dunia (NEOs) kwa kutumia miale ya ultraviolet. Teleskopi ya angani iliyoundwa kutafuta asteroidi na kometi ambazo ni vigumu zaidi kupata ambazo huingia katika mzunguko wa Dunia. Mwili wa karibu na dunia (NEO) unazunguka jua kwa umbali wa kilomita 1.208 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 au 1.458 "Ikiwa mzunguko wa NEO unapita ule wa Dunia na kitu hicho ni kikubwa kuliko mita 140 (miili 460) ni ""inaweza kuwa hatari"" (PHO)." Kuna zaidi ya 30,000 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) na zaidi ya mia moja inayojulikana ya muda mfupi karibu-Earth Comets (NECs) kuzunguka jua, baadhi ya ambayo ni hatari karibu na Dunia. Kwa hiyo, lengo kuu la darubini-upeo ya Near Earth Object Surveyor (NEOS) ni kufuatilia mwendo wa vitu hivyo na kuzitazama kwa makini. Ujumbe huo uko katika hatua za mwisho za kubuni na kutengeneza, ambapo utaanzisha msingi wa kiufundi, gharama, na ratiba. "Kisha, uzalishaji utaanza, kwa sababu tarehe ya mwisho ya uzinduzi wa jicho hili ni 2026.""" Ujumbe huo unachangia malengo ya Ofisi ya Usawazishaji wa Ulinzi wa Sayari ya NASA (PDCO), ambayo iko katika Makao Makuu ya NASA huko Washington. Sheria ya Uidhinishaji ya NASA ya 2005 iliamuru NASA kugundua na kuelezea angalau 90% ya vitu vya karibu na Dunia zaidi ya mita 140 kwa kipenyo vinavyopita ndani ya kilomita milioni 30 za mzunguko wa sayari yetu. Vitu vya ukubwa huu vina uwezo wa kusababisha uharibifu mkubwa wa kikanda, ikiwa sio mbaya zaidi ikiwa vinagongana na Dunia. Mradi huo unasimamiwa na Maabara ya Jet Propulsion ya NASA, huko California. NEO Surveyor itawekwa katika Lagrange Point 1 kati ya Dunia na Jua, ambapo itazunguka kwa miaka mitano ijayo. "Lagrange Point 1 ni kituo cha uchunguzi cha NEO ambacho kinaweza kuchunguza mfumo wa jua kwa kutumia mawimbi ya infrared ambayo macho ya binadamu hayawezi kuona.""" Kwa sababu urefu huo wa mawimbi umefungwa na angahewa la dunia, vituo vikubwa vya uchunguzi vya ardhini vinaweza kukosa vitu vya karibu na dunia ambavyo darubini hii ya angani inaweza kugundua kwa sababu ya kipenyo chake cha upatikanaji wa mwanga cha karibu sentimita 20 au mita 0.5. Vipimo vya NEO Surveyor vimeundwa kuchunguza bendi mbili za infrared zenye joto, ambazo zimechaguliwa hasa kufuatilia vitu vigumu zaidi kupata karibu na Dunia, kama vile asteroids nyeusi na kometi ambazo hazionyeshi mwanga mwingi unaoonekana. Kwa sababu zina joto kutokana na mwangaza wa jua, vitu hivyo huangaza katika mawimbi ya infrared ambayo NEO Surveyor huelewa. NEO Surveyor pia itaweza kugundua asteroids zinazokaribia Dunia kutoka kwa mwelekeo wa Jua, pamoja na zile zinazoongoza na kufuatilia mzunguko wa sayari yetu, ambapo kwa kawaida hufichwa na mwangaza wa jua - hizi zinajulikana kama Trojan za Dunia. Kwa hiyo, hakuna shaka kuhusu ufanisi na usahihi wa darubini-upeo ya angani. Ulimwengu unangoja tu kutolewa na NASA.