(ORDO NEWS) — A powerful transmitter based in Alaska sent longwave radio signals into space on Tuesday to study the internal structure of asteroid 2010 XC15.
2010 XC15 is estimated to be about 152 meters across and pass Earth at twice the distance between our planet and the Moon.
The results of an experiment conducted on Tuesday at the HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) research center in Gakone could help in planetary defense of the Earth.
“We will be analyzing the data over the next few weeks and hope to publish the results in the coming months,” said Mark Haynes, lead researcher on the project.
“This experiment was the first time an attempt had been made to observe an asteroid at such low frequencies.”
There are several programs for quickly detecting asteroids, determining their orbit and shape, and obtaining images of the surface, but these programs do not provide information about the interior of the asteroid.
However, longwave radio signals can reveal the internal structure of objects.
HAARP, using three powerful generators, began transmitting signals at 2 am on Tuesday and continued to send them continuously until the scheduled end of the 12-hour experiment.
This experience, conducted on Tuesday, also served as a training session before probing the large asteroid Apophis.
Apophis, discovered in 2004, will make its closest approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. It will pass approximately 32,000 kilometers from the planet and will be closer than many geostationary satellites.
Apophis, estimated to be around 335 meters in diameter by NASA, was originally thought to pose a danger to Earth in 2068, but researchers have since better predicted its orbit and figured it won’t threaten the planet for at least another century.
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