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An asteroid is expected to pass close to Earth next week, according to sources from the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as cited by China Daily.
The asteroid was discovered by Chinese astronomers and sighted on November 6. It is expected to fly safely to Earth at 8.08 CST on Friday, November 20.
Zhao Haibin, an astronomer at the observatory, said the asteroid will arrive within 4.48 million kilometers of the Earth’s surface. To put this into perspective, the moon is more than 10 times closer to our planet.
Near-Earth (NEA) asteroids are by no means rare. In August, a space rock the size of an SUV set a record for getting closer to Earth than any other NEA on record. Due to its small size of around 3-6 meters, it would likely have turned into a fireball upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. So far in 2020, the American Meteor Society has documented more than 6,500 fireball events.
In July, China’s National Space Administration launched an asteroid and comet exploration project to study comets and return samples from an NEA. The administration has invited students from universities, middle and elementary schools to conduct scientific experiments in this field.
READ MORE: Chinese scientists have a new plan to prevent a massive asteroid attack
According to Space News, ZhengHe, a spacecraft named after the 15th-century naval explorer, will target the identified NEA and collect up to a 1,000-gram sample from the asteroid. The samples will be returned to Earth within 2-3 years of launch.
This may seem like a big investment for a small sample, but asteroid mining could lead to a huge payday in the future.
There is an asteroid, 16 Psyche, orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter that is worth about $ 10,000 quadrillion, or $ 10,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Image via Maxar / ASU / P. Rubin / NASA / JPL-Caltech
Although most asteroids are made of rock or ice, Psyche is believed to be composed primarily of iron and nickel, which resemble the Earth’s core. The rare 226-kilometer space rock is worth more than the entire world economy – by a lot.
According to How Stuff Works, a NASA space probe is expected to visit the huge object in 2026.
[Cover image via Pixabay]
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