Asteroids seem to have continued their potentially catastrophic close encounters with Earth. NASA monitors these objects by analysing data collected by observatories and telescopes including Pan- STARRS, the Catalina Sky Survey, and the NEOWISE telescope. Most of this equipment is firmly planted on the ground, but a few pieces are free to roam the atmosphere.
NASA has formed the Planetary Defense Interagency Group to keep a watch out for any dangers to Earth (NEO). Included here are the Small-Body database, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies (CNEOS). All of these fields contributed to our current understanding of this asteroid.
The latest threat to Earth is from Astroid named Astroid 2022 VB2. This 100-foot-tall asteroid will come within 3,300,000 kilometres of Earth. Astroid 2022 VB2 is expected to approach Earth today at a speed of 30,336 kilometres per hour.
The Planetary Science Division of NASA's Washington, DC, headquarters has a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). The PDCO's duty is the rapid identification of PHOS. Comets and asteroids whose orbits bring them to within 0.05 astronomical units of Earth are included in the PHOS category (5 million miles or 8 million kilometres).
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NASA's recently concluded DART mission aimed to protect against precisely these kinds of threats from outer space. NASA's Dart project was an attempt to see if it would be possible to divert an asteroid. A tremendous step forward in the worldwide endeavour to develop the techniques by which we may prevent any massive rock from ever hitting the globe was taken with the successful conclusion of this test.
The weight of the DART was 570 kg, which is a great deal of weight. Despite the fact that DART was designed to destroy the asteroid, the primary objective was not to do so. NASA reports that the DART mission was successful in diverting the asteroid.
