What would it be like flying through an asteroid belt?
What would it be like flying through an asteroid belt?
In our solar system, most asteroids, perhaps a billion of them 100 meters or wider, can be found in a circular belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In other words, one could snooze while flying through the asteroid belt. But that would make for dull movies and easy video games.
Has an asteroid ever hit a spacecraft?
Yes, on February 12, 2001 flight controllers landed NASA’s NEAR spacecraft on an asteroid called Eros. NEAR was the first spacecraft to orbit and touchdown on the surface of an asteroid. Eros is the largest of the asteroids whose orbits cross the orbit of the Earth.
How crowded is the asteroid belt do spacecraft have trouble traveling through it?
Do spacecraft have trouble traveling through it? In the asteroid belt, asteroids are separated from each other by millions of miles. By human standards, the asteroid belt is not crowded at all. Spacecraft would be able to pass through the asteroid belt with very little chance of colliding with an asteroid.
How did Cassini go through the asteroid belt?
April 17, 2000 — NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, currently en route to Saturn, has successfully completed its passage through our solar system’s asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft entered the belt in mid-December and while it was in the area, Cassini’s camera imaged the asteroid 2685 Masursky.
How dangerous is the asteroid belt?
The danger lies not in the risk of hitting a large object. The number of objects in the asteroid belt increases steeply with decreasing size, but even at micrometer sizes the Pioneer spacecraft were hit only a few times during their passage. That is not to say that asteroids cannot pose any danger, however.
Is the asteroid belt crowded?
The asteroid belt is hardly something you would consider crowded. It should be emphasized that asteroids in the belt are not evenly distributed. They are clustered into families and groups. But even such clustering is not significant compared to the vast space it occupies.
Can we get through the asteroid belt?
Yes, you could go “over” or “under” the asteroid belt. However, plane changes are expensive, and as pointed out in the comments, the asteroid belt is not very dense (average distance of 600,000 miles [1 million kilometers] between objects) so there isn’t much to avoid.
What are the chances an asteroid will hit Earth?
Currently none are predicted (the single highest probability impact currently listed is ~7 m asteroid 2010 RF12, which is due to pass earth in September 2095 with only a 5% predicted chance of impacting). Currently prediction is mainly based on cataloging asteroids years before they are due to impact.
What asteroid will most likely hit Earth in 2020?
On average, an asteroid the size of Apophis (370 metres) is expected to impact Earth once in about 80,000 years. Observations in 2020 by the Subaru telescope confirmed David Vokrouhlický’s 2015 Yarkovsky effect predictions….99942 Apophis.
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Spectral type | Sq |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 19.7±0.4 19.09±0.19 18.95±0.15 |
What keeps the asteroid belt in place?
The gas giant’s gravitational pull keeps these regions far emptier than the rest of the belt. In other resonances, the asteroids can be more concentrated.
Why is it dangerous to travel through the asteroid belt?
How fast was the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs?
30 kilometers per second
Scientists calculate that it was blasted into Earth by a 10-kilometer-wide asteroid or comet traveling 30 kilometers per second — 150 times faster than a jet airliner. Scientists have concluded that the impact that created this crater occurred 65 million years ago.