Space Video of the Day - 080306

On April 13, 2029, the asteroid Apophis will have a close encounter with Earth - so close that it will actually dip below the orbits of our communications satellites. If it passes through a "keyhole" in space, then seven years later it will impact Earth, most likely somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, causing gigantic supersonic tidal waves. If it does turn out that Aphophis is going to hit us, then the earlier we start doing something about it - such as changing its velocity by as little as 1 centimeter per second - the easier it will be to prevent disaster. Of course, before we do anything, we need to know a lot more about the asteroid; in particular, we need to know its orbit much more precisely. Today's space video of the day is a simulation of a proposed mission to Apophis, lofted by a SpaceX Falcon1-E rocket in 2012.


Space Video of the Day Archive