NASA shared images of this space body and determined that it was about 350 meters long. The tycoon shared his comments.
In mid-September, THE JAR warned that a large asteroid named 2024 ON would pass near the Land .
As reported by a release On the 17th of this month, the space rock passed a million kilometers from our planet or about 2.6 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Radar images obtained by the agency determined that The asteroid is about 350 meters long and has a shape similar to a peanut. .
“Like asteroid 2024 JV33 which approached Earth a month earlier, 2024 ON is likely a contact binary, with two rounded lobes separated by a pronounced neck. one lobe about 50 percent larger than the other,” they said from the U.S. agency.
Although the asteroid is classified as “potentially hazardous,” NASA stressed that “This does not pose a danger to our planet in the foreseeable future” .
They pointed out that radar measurements of the Goldstone solar system “have allowed the scientists significantly reduce uncertainties about the asteroid’s distance from Earth and its future motion for several decades.”
According to data retrieved by Infobae , 2024 ON is moving at a speed of 31,666 kilometers per hour or about 25 times the speed of sound.
The asteroid has been classified as a near-Earth object (NEO) .
From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, for its acronym in English) of NASA explains that Near-Earth objects are “comets and asteroids that have been pushed by the gravitational pull of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter Earth’s vicinity.” .
Similarly, according to the aforementioned media, the space agency considers as “potentially dangerous” any object larger than 150 meters that approaches within 7.5 million kilometers from Earth’s orbit.
However, this This does not necessarily imply that there is an imminent threat. .
The last time asteroid 2024 ON passed close to Earth was in 2013. according to information collected by The Independent .
And we assume that will approach the planet again in 2035 .
The ambassador of Solar system of NASA, Brenda Culbertson, pointed out in a report to which Infobae had access that Asteroids of this type are constantly monitored to detect possible deviations from its trajectory that could increase the risk of impact on Earth.
In his words, “these celestial bodies These are natural objects that help us better understand our cosmic environment “.
The Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) is responsible for study these elements to assess the potential risks they may represent .
For that, They use data collected by observatories around the world and specialists, in addition to information obtained by missions and planetary radars such as Goldstone.
NASA has assured, based on its current analyses, that It is assumed that over the next 100 years, large asteroid impacts will not pose any significant threat. on Earth.
However, the agency stressed the importance of studying these phenomena and evaluating possible responses for several scenarios hypothetical.
What Elon Musk Said About the Asteroid That Approached Earth
Tech mogul and owner of companies like SpaceX, Elon Musk, referenced asteroid 2024 ON on his personal X account (formerly Twitter), a social network he also owns.
“One of these daysa large comet will crash into Earth and destroy almost all life, as has happened many times in the past. ” he wrote on September 17, 2024, in response to a post by another user in which the asteroid was referred to.
And he continued: “Finally, andThe sun will expand enough to boil the oceans and destroy all life. .
“Either we become a space civilization or we die: those are the two options” ” Musk said.
The billionaire’s words are consistent with the goals of SpaceX, its company dedicated to the space sector .
Its Starship rocket seeks to take astronauts to the Moon, then set its sights on Mars .
It is a vehicle built in stainless steel and which brings together a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 50-meter-tall upper-stage spacecraft also known as Starship.
The two stacked parts are 122 meters high. approximately.
In a publication of X that he made at the beginning of September, Musk has given his estimates on when he thinks the first manned trips to the Red Planet will take place. .
According to the tycoon, When this milestone is reached, “the rate of leakage will increase exponentially, with the goal of building a self-sufficient city within about 20 years.” .
From his vision, that humans can inhabit places outside of Earth This is crucial.
And he is not the only one who has thought about this possibility. Even, Some specialists have already proposed, from a long-term perspective, how to manage a possible civilization. in other places in space.
In this sense, the astrobiologist Jacob Haqq-Misra of the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (BMSIS) is known because proposes that, if it materializes on Mars, this planet should have an “autonomous” system independent of that of Earth .
The specialist, who is also the author of the book Sovereign Mars: Transforming our values through space colonization (University Press of Kansas, 2022), presented an article in June 2024 in which proposed “a model of economic freedom” for the red planet .
This writing was published in Space policy and there he anticipates that “the aspirations to maintain human life in space must be based on human factors, rather than just technological limitations “.
“Progress in governance and ethics models are needed as human civilization becomes a space-faring species “, Haqq-Misra emphasizes in the document.
Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
