An asteroid 10 times faster than a rifle bullet will pass near Earth tomorrow

According to NASA's asteroid tracker, a 68-foot-wide asteroid is ready to pass the Earth on September 6. NASA warns that it is approaching the Earth 10 times faster than a NATO rifle bullet, as per NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The asteroid called QC7 is as large as half of the wingspan of a Boeing 767.

Although it is relatively smaller than many other asteroids, the asteroid QC7 is coming to Earth's direction at a speed of around 9.10 kilometers per second.

No worries, all is safe!

According to a statement from NASA, we don't need to worry because the probability of the QC7 hitting the Earth is like a snowball's survival chances in hell. The asteroid is 4.6 million kilometers away from the Earth.

It is also underlined that even if the QC7 hit the Earth, it would not make a big impact. The only thing the QC7 could do would be to cause a huge and loud explosion in the entry of the atmosphere.

Potentially the most dangerous one: Bennu

Tall as Empire State Building and with a similar surface to a plastic ball, our galaxy has an asteroid that could be very dangerous if it hits the Earth, "Bennu".

According to the scientists, it will be possible to better predict exactly where Bennu, one of the closest meteorites to Earth, will be over the next 200 years. However, if Bennu hits Earth, the results will be inevitable.

Let's learn more about DART

NASA and other space agencies have rolled up their sleeves to change the direction of asteroids, especially huge ones, which are likely to hit the Earth in the future and can cause great damage. That's why they decided to come to the DART project realize.

DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is a NASA space mission aiming to test a planetary defense method against near-Earth objects.

NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory worked together on the DART project (APL). The project was supported technically by numerous NASA offices and laboratories and was sponsored by NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

It was also overseen by NASA's Planetary Missions Program Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. International collaborators are providing funding for related or upcoming projects, including the European Space Agency (ESA), the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

NASA gave its approval for the project to begin the final design and assembly phase. The DART spacecraft was successfully launched on November 24, 2021, with the collision scheduled for September 27, 2022.