According to NASA’s asteroid tracker, an asteroid over twice the size of a dinosaur will have a close flyby on August 16, 2022. This asteroid which is designated 2022 PW is currently heading in the direction of Earth, said NASA.
According to the Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this asteroid is likely to pass by at 7.74 km/second (26,892 km/hour) which is roughly equal to 22 times the speed of sound.
It is noteworthy that the asteroid will pass the Earth at an approximate distance of 5,29,000 kilometres on an average, whereas the Moon orbits the Earth at 3,84,000 kilometres, which means that asteroid 2022 PW will fly by at a distance farther than the Moon. However, on a cosmic scale, it will still be very close to the Earth. It is expected that the next flyby asteroid 2022 PW will occur on February 05 in the year 2031.
It is also tracked by NASA that we can witness another asteroid, 2022 PJI, flying by a 4.23 million kilometres at a speed of 6 Km/second or 21,600 km/hour. Asteroid 2022 PJI’s next close approach is likely to occur on August 04, 2025. Reportedly, on that day, it will fly by at a distance of 18.86 million kilometres. Moreover, the size of the asteroid is estimated to be between 14 and 32 metres or a decent sized house.
Meanwhile, both the asteroids are not potentially hazardous to Earth but there are others that could threaten our planet. In the mid of March this year, asteroid 2022 EB5 which was around half the size of a giraffe had hit the Earth but eventually caused no damage.
Meanwhile, NASA’s next moon rocket will have an important cargo from tech company Apple. According to a report by 9to5Mac, the US space agency will send an iPad onboard an uncrewed spacecraft called Orion on the Artemis 1 Moon mission. Why? One may wonder. The iPad, report says, will assist in testing Amazon’s digital voice assistant Alexa on Orion.
Apple iPad will be part of Callisto that will demonstrate how consumer tech could integrate with future spacecrafts. NASA will use Amazon Alexa and WebEx by Cisco for the tech demo. The mission seeks to demonstrate how voice commands could improve how astronauts live and work in space.
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