Mission Don Quijote deflects meteors

Quang Thinh

To protect the planet from the risk of meteorite collisions, the European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to carry out a mission called ' Don Quijote ' to test the ability to deflect dangerous objects. for Earth.

Don Quijote is an ESA project aimed at studying and identifying geophysical characteristics of asteroids and experimenting with technology to deflect cosmic objects that might hit the Earth in the future. According to ESA's plan, the mission of Don Quijote will be implemented through 2 phases.

Phase 1 involves launching a spacecraft named Sancho flying around the selected asteroid's trajectory (about 500 meters in diameter) to track its activity. With modern equipment, Sancho will determine the exact location, shape, volume, structure and gravitational field of that cosmic object.

According to ESA, Sancho will take about 25 months to reach the target and start a massive 6-month survey in the field of objects near Earth (NEO).

The Sancho spacecraft will monitor and identify future asteroids that can hit the Earth in order to research asteroids and test technology to deflect dangerous objects.(Photo: ESA, News.sawf.org)

Then, in phase 2 , another spacecraft called Hidalgo will rush into the asteroid at a relative speed of at least 10 km / sec . Then, from a safe distance, Sancho will observe the collision and note any changes in the asteroid's shape, size, rotation and direction of movement after the collision.

ESA hopes Don Quijote will be the first real mission capable of deflecting a dangerous asteroid to Earth.

Under ESA's plan, Sancho will approach any of the 5 or 6 small asteroids and have orbits close to Earth. These objects are about a few hundred meters in diameter.

Currently, ESA experts decide to focus more on the asteroid Apophis - about 300 meters in diameter - is expected to approach the Earth in 2029 and can hit Earth 7 years later.

According to ESA, about the risk of collisions between Earth and meteorites, objects near Earth (NEO) with a diameter of less than 1 km are now more worrisome than larger NEOs. That's because compared to the large NEO, the small NEO has a much larger number and has a more difficult orbit from Earth.

The Sancho spacecraft will monitor and identify future asteroids that can hit the Earth in order to research asteroids and test technology to deflect dangerous objects.(Photo: ESA, News.sawf.org)

In 1908, an asteroid with a diameter of only 20 meters plunged into the deserted Tunguska forest in Siberia, leveling all trees and destroying an entire area of ​​up to 2,000 km ² . Scientists predict that such a collision occurs every 150 years.

The 100th anniversary of the incident will be held next year, and it is an opportunity to remind people to study asteroids and find ways to deal with future collisions between Earth and the object. cosmic body, even if it's just a small meteorite.

According to Ian Carnelli, technical expert of ESA, the mission of Don Quijote can be realized at the beginning of the next decade. However, he said: 'The current problem is to fully prepare the technology to realize this mission'.

According to Science Daily, ESA, Scenta, VietNamNet