标题: Asteroid danger: NASA and ESA to team up for world-saving asteroid
deflection mission
副标题: ASTEROID experts from around the world will join up for the world's
first planetary defence mission that could save lives across the globe if
successful.
By GERRARD KAONGA
PUBLISHED: 09:20, Tue, Sep 3, 2019 | UPDATED: 09:21, Tue, Sep 3, 2019
https://youtu.be/8PIwxKma1tw
Asteroid researchers and spacecraft engineers from the US, Europe and around
the world will gather in Rome next week to discuss the latest progress in
their common goal.
It will be an ambitious double spacecraft mission to deflect an asteroid in
space, to prove the technique is a viable method of planetary defence.
Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May explained how the
mission would be conducted using the might of NASA, the European Space
Agency (ESA) and other asteroid specialists.
He said: “HERA is going to show us no one has ever seen before.
“This ESA mission will be humanities first-ever spacecraft to visit a
double asteroid, Didymos.
“This asteroid is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to our
planet.
“Imagine a mountain in the sky with another rock about the size of the
great pyramid swinging around it, that is Didymos.
https://i.imgur.com/FJeFjJe.jpg
▲ The UK and USA are set to team up for a joint mission for asteroid
deflection (Image: ESA)
https://i.imgur.com/HGkPYnV.jpg
▲ The mission will great allow space agencies to know how to calculate the
density of asteroids (Image: ESA)
“Just the seemingly tiny moon would be big enough to destroy a city if it
were to collide with the Earth.
“But we are going to find out if it is possible to deflect it.”
He added: “HERA is led by a multinational team of scientists and engineers.
“Right now all we have is many years and theories but HERA will
revolutionise our understanding of asteroids and how to protect ourselves from
them.
https://i.imgur.com/5kVm9wr.jpg
▲ NASA will slam its DART spacecraft into the smaller asteroid (Image: ESA)
“Then ESA comes in, HERA will map the impact crater left by DART and
measure the mass of the asteroid.
“Knowing this mass is key to determining what is inside and knowing for
certain whether we would be able to deflect it.
“Next come our briefcase-sized CubeSats, if you think of HERA like an
aeroplane, cubists will operate more like drones.
https://i.imgur.com/ruPhagL.jpg
▲ The ESA spacecraft HERA will then map the crater and gather crucial data
(Image: ESA)
“They will be able to take more risks by flying closer to the asteroid and
carrying state of the art science instruments before then touching down.”
Space X CEO Elon Musk admitted Earth had no defence against impending
asteroid threats as he responded to Express.co.uk's Apophis 'God of Chaos'
asteroid story.
The billionaire CEO issued his chilling assessment after responding to
friend Joe Rogan who shared the asteroid story from the Express.co.uk website.
Musk tweeted: “Great name! Wouldn’t worry about this particular one, but a
big rock will hit Earth eventually and we currently have no defence.”
文章来源: https://bit.ly/2kqh4DB
行星防御任务耶！感觉好帅，像是小说里会出现的东西，小弟我英文很烂(比Google翻译
烂那种)，就不翻译了，抱歉