• Question: Has there ever been a close encounter with an asteroid/meteor?

    Asked by Jack to Simon, Julia, Delma, Andrew, Alex on 14 Dec 2015. This question was also asked by 548nch35, will.
    • Photo: Delma Childers

      Delma Childers answered on 14 Dec 2015:

      Some small-ish asteroids have come a bit too close for comfort (around 20,000 kilometers from Earth, which is much, much closer to the Earth than the moon is). There are just a handful of larger asteroids that have passed closer to the Earth than the moon does.

      NASA is planning a very close encounter with a small asteroid. The Orion mission plans to send astronauts to capture a small asteroid and drag it into orbit around the moon. 😀

    • Photo: Alexander Finch

      Alexander Finch answered on 16 Dec 2015:

      For the planet – yes! All the time small ones whip past us. Sometimes medium-sized ones crash into us – like the Chelyabinsk meteor in Russia three years ago that did lots of damage on the ground, but luckily not too serious. Scientists are looking for any that might pose a danger to us in the future..

      For spacecraft, big asteroids aren’t a problem as they’re rare, but tiny micrometeorites on rare occasions make holes in the hull of the spacecraft! They have something like a bike tyre repair kit to seal it if a leak does appear!

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