The asteroid Apophis was first discovered over a decade ago, and now its rediscovery is threatening an impact in 2029. It becomes the test subject of defense systems as it closely approaches Earth. And the asteroid defense technology rediscovered the 99942 Apophis asteroid. This tested whether the world’s defense mechanisms would spot any hazardous collisions on Earth. It was soon found out that the asteroid Apophis might make an impact in 2029.
Experts made inaccessible all the former information on asteroid Apophis for this exercise. The test of discovering the asteroid began in December 2020 and advanced in March 2021. Without the previous data on Apophis, astronomers would start anew with its rediscovery and see if the results are accurate using the defense technology.
And this begs the question: Will our defense network work? Or will astronomers miss this threatening asteroid’s close approach?
A pool of experts joins the project
Several asteroid-hunting surveys were part of this ‘rediscovery’ project. The primary aim was to scan the sky for any hazardous asteroids. The project also comprises over 100 scientists from around 18 countries.
The first discovery of Apophis was in 2004, and it ignited an alarm among astronomers involved in the project as well as authorities. Although a possible impact in 2029 or 2036 was ruled out, the B612 Foundation had believed that a potential danger could come from Apophis. It’s a nonprofit company that handles research in mapping out activities in the solar system. In the end, the foundation ruled out an impact anytime soon.
The astronomers were tasked with rediscovering the dangerous asteroid to test their skills in their field.
According to associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Vishnu Reddy, the project “stress-tested the entire planetary defense response chain, from initial detection, to orbit determination, to measuring the asteroid’s physical characteristics and even determining if and where it might hit Earth.”
Catalina Sky Survey in AZ first discovered Apophis. Other defense systems also detected it such as Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile, South Africa, Hawaii, and Panoramic Survey Telescope, and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) in Hawaii.
Are we in danger?
According to experts, Apophis’s shape is an elongated object, 886 in diameter, and is 1,345 feet.
According to NEOWISE’s estimated measurements, the impact would be around 8.5 x 10^19 joules of energy. This is approximately 20 million kilotons of TNT, a Chelyabinsk meteor airburst in Russia almost a decade ago.
However, the possible impact of Apophis will only be on a regional scale. This means the impact won’t threaten the extinction of human life.
“Even though we knew that, in reality, Apophis was not impacting Earth in 2029 starting from square one … there were large uncertainties in the object’s orbit that theoretically allowed an impact that year,” Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in the statement.
The important thing is the asteroid defense technology works and was able to track the data of Apophis, which means the project was a resounding success.
