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Asteroid deflection technologies

Asteroid deflection technologies are methods and strategies developed to prevent potential impacts of asteroids with Earth. These technologies aim to alter the trajectory of an asteroid to ensure it does not collide with our planet Following the success of NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, discussions about planetary defense and asteroid deflection strategies are increasingly prominent. Here are some principal methods and how they work: 1. Kinetic Impactor:    - How It Works: This method involves sending a spacecraft to collide with an asteroid at high speed. The impact changes the asteroid's velocity and trajectory, ideally enough to avoid a collision with Earth.    - Example: NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission successfully demonstrated this technique by impacting the moonlet Dimorphos in 2022. 2. Gravity Tractor:    - How It Works: A spacecraft positioned near an asteroid uses its gravitational pull to...

Heating the solar corona

The hot outer layer of the sun, the corona, has a temperature of over a million degrees Kelvin, much more than the surface temperature of the Sun which is only about 5500 degrees Kelvin. Moreover, the corona is very active and ejects a wind of charged particles at a rate equivalent to about one-millionth of the moon's mass each year. Some of these particles bombard the Earth, producing auroral glows and occasionally disrupting global communications. There are two important, longstanding, and related questions about the corona that astronomers are working to answer: how is it heated to temperatures that are so much hotter than the surface? And how does the corona produce the wind?

from Astronomy News - Space News, Exploration News, Earth Science News, Earth Science https://ift.tt/2nR2PsP

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