Potentially Hazardous Giant Asteroid Bigger Than London Eye to Whiz Past Earth Monday

Earth will come into contact with a "potentially hazardous" space rock larger than the London Eye. The asteroid 2022MQ is traveling through space at a rate of more than 12 km/s and will eventually cross our planet's orbit today.

This most recent astro-boulder follows closely on the heels of 2013AX, another rock that whizzed past Earth last month by 3.92 million miles, as Daily Star reported.

(Photo : Pixabay/geralt)
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Asteroid 2022MQ to Pass Earth Soon

According to The Star, 2022MQ is expected to pass Earth on Monday at the height of barely 1.79 million feet. Any huge asteroid approaching the planet within 4.65 million miles is classified by NASA as "potentially hazardous."

However, 2022MQ, which has a diameter of around 230 to 525 feet, poses no imminent threat. 2022MQ won't be in our neighborhood again on its present orbit until 2033, albeit it will be a lot further away than it will be on Monday. However, it is anticipated to go considerably closer a year later, in 2034.

Experts say any item traveling through space longer than 100 meters would be powerful enough to unleash a catastrophic force 10 times greater than a volcanic explosion. A meteor that struck eastern Siberia in 1908 and completely leveled woods had a diameter of around 200 meters.

ALSO READ: Pyramid-Sized Asteroid Safely Hurled Towards Earth; Space Rock Was Removed From Potentially Hazardous Object List

NASA Psyche Asteroid on Hiccup?

Meanwhile, NASA confirmed Friday that its trip to the Psyche asteroid will no longer take place this year. According to a NASA press release, the probe's flight software and testing tools were delivered behind schedule, which caused the unique mission to be delayed.

The engineers didn't have enough time to finish testing the software and equipment because the delivery was delayed. The Psyche mission envisaged sending a probe to investigate a 225-kilometer-wide, metal-rich asteroid. It was planned to launch between Sept. 20 and Oct. 11.

Some decisions aren't easy, but they're the right ones to make. Our #MissionToPsyche won't make its planned 2022 launch attempt. An independent review board (usually experts from government, academia & industry) will look at options for next steps: https://t.co/To99ZklbjU pic.twitter.com/4v94cGNbh1
— NASA (@NASA) June 24, 2022

The guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) software are to blame for the holdup as it is still undergoing testing and validation to ensure that it will operate as intended while in flight. This program will steer the spacecraft's antenna toward Earth to establish a connection and control the spacecraft's orientation as it travels through space. Additionally, it would give the probe's solar electric propulsion system, which is expected to be turned on 70 days after launch, information about its trajectory.

Due to Psyche's relative orbital location to Earth, Republic World said the spacecraft would have reached its destination in 2026 had the mission's launch window this year been from Aug. 1 to Oct. 11. Although there are launch windows in 2023 and 2024, the probe wouldn't reach Psyche until much later, maybe in 2029 or even 2030.