A massive asteroid with a width that could be as great as double the height of the Empire State Building, called asteroid 418135 (2008 AG33) with an estimated size of between around 1,150 and 2,560 feet, will speed past Earth at 23,264 miles per hour on Thursday, NASA said. A few days later, another giant asteroid, potentially even larger, even double in size, will pass in our proximity. Fortunatelly, it will remain around 3.5 million miles from our planet. Such close asteroid approaces are attentively monitored. NASA reported several in the last few months and there is a problem because only a small deviation in their trajectory could lead to a disaster on Earth as around 65 million years the extinction of dinosaurs was.
To prepare against asteroids treat being capable to deflect them, NASA introduced the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission last year in Novemver. The mission will have an important step this year, in late September, when a 1210 pund spacecraft will collide with the asteroid Dimorphos in the hope to modify a little its trajectory.The results will be important for future steps to make humans capable to action in such circumstances. The Planetary Defense Coordination Center is a department by Nasa that will come with strategies.
