A massive asteroid similar to the size of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest manmade building on this planet is heading for this planet as shown in the asteroid tracker of NASA.
As specified in The Jerusalem Post report, a massive asteroid labeled as 163899 (2003 SD220), has a diameter of roughly 791 meters, almost half a mile in length. As mentioned, this is almost the size of the said tallest human-made structure on this planet.
Nevertheless, observations carried out by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in 2015 suggested, it could be far more massive, at least two kilometers long, with observers who compared its shape to that of a sweet potato.
Later on, NASA came up with different gauges, roughly 1.6 kilometers, and in comparison to its shape to that of a hippopotamus. Nevertheless, present NASA approximates have placed the asteroid at a 791-meter diameter.
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Asteroid Flying Past the Earth in December
The asteroid is slated to fly past this planet on December 17 within a roughly 5.4-kilometer distance from the planet at a 5.6-kilometers per second speed.
To compare, the distance from the Earth to the Moon is far below approximately 385,000 kilometers. As such, in spite of being categorized as Potentially Hazardous Asteroid or PHA, as detailed in the Rubin Observatory site, because of its size and close proximity to Earth, it appears unlikely to posture a threat to the planet. NASA has in fact declared this planet safe from the impacts of an asteroid for the next century.
The asteroid is regarded as the "Aten-class." Meaning, its orbit is crossing over with the orbit of Earth around the Sun, although it's spending most of its side inside it.
As such, there is the hypothetical chance it could someday strike the Earth, although present estimations exhibit this is not a concern at the moment.
Nevertheless, there is another value in this particular massive asteroid, as it could hold the probability of being the area of a potential robotic exploration mission.
Asteroid Exploration
At present, no such mission has been planned although, theoretically, it is possible. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA estimated data for a hypothetical exploration mission to the asteroid.
Based on these estimations, it would have a measure of various values and factors also called "delta-v" that determine how difficult it would be to appropriately maneuver a spacecraft during launch and, or, landing of 9.851 kilometers per second. To compare, this is roughly the delta-v for launching into low-orbit, a rocket.
Essentially, asteroid exploration is a major field in astronomy, and a lot of space agencies have shown interest in the exploration of numerous massive objects in the solar system.
Last month, the United Arab Emirates announced plans for a new space mission to discover asteroids and be the pioneering Arab nation to land successfully on an asteroid.
Tentatively scheduled for launch in 2028 with a seven-year development time for the spacecraft, the mission will see the exploration of the UAE of the planet Venus, and seven asteroids that culminate in a planned landing in 2033 on an asteroid itself after a five-year journey, a separate report from The Jerusalem Post specified.
Related information about the massive asteroid heading for Earth in mid-December is shown on Anti-Cookie-Dough's YouTube video below:
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