A group of researchers Try Radio signals are bounced off a 500-foot-wide asteroid during its flyby Land Tuesday.
The High Frequency Active Aurora Program (HAARP) directs its antennas to asteroid 2010 XC15, a space rock classified as to close-A potentially dangerous meteorite. Effort is a test of preparing for a larger body, known as Apophi, Which will meet our planet up close in 2029.
“What’s new and what we’re trying to do is examine the interior of asteroids using longwave radar and radio telescopes from Earth,” said Mark Hynes, project principal investigator and radar systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. . a declaration. “The longer wavelengths can penetrate the body much better than the radio wavelengths used for communications.”
HAARP is a research center in Gakona, Alaska (which was Subject of many conspiracy theories). It is made up of 180 high-frequency antennas, each 72 feet high and spanning 33 acres. the The installation broadcasts radio packets to The ionosphere, the ionized part of the atmosphere Located It is located approximately 50 to 400 miles (80 to 600 kilometers) above the earth’s surface. HAARP sends radio signals into the ionosphere and waits to see how they return, with the goal of measuring, among other things, disturbances caused by the sun.
The ease Launch a science campaign in October With 13 experiments, including one that predicted bounce signals from the Moon. At that time, HAARP researchers Consider sending a radio signal to an asteroid to examine the interior of a rocky body.
During today’s experiment, TJHAARP antennas in Alaska will send radio signals to the asteroid, Then the scholars check If the reflected signals come for me Antenna array at the University of New Mexico Long Wavelength Array and approx Owens Valley Radio Matrix Longwave.
HAARP will send a continuous chirp signal just above and below 9.6 MHz; The acoustic signal will be repeated in two intervals. At its closest approach on Dec. 27, the asteroid will be twice as far from the Moon as Earth.
Tuesday’s experiment aims to prepare for an imminent asteroid encounter in 2029. This potentially dangerous asteroid, officially known as 99942 Apophis, about 1210 feet (370 meters) wideAnd he will come in 20,000 miles (32,000 km) i Earth on April 13, 2029. The NEO was thought to pose little danger to Earth in the year 2068, but NASA ruled it out.
However, HAARP wants to survey the asteroid to prepare for potential dangers in the future Space rocks. “The longer it takes before a potential impact occurs, the more options there are to try and distract,” Haynes said.
In September, NASA’s DART spacecraft nanometerClosed small asteroid And managed to change its orbit. Such a strategy Perhaps A way to transform space rocks that threaten Land.
Today Medical examination Shows the possibility of using longwave radio signals for investigations inside asteroids. “If we can get the systems in place on Earth, that will give us lots of opportunities to try to figure out what’s inside these objects,” Haynes said.
Next: The strong rebound effect amplified NASA’s experiment on asteroid deflection
