(163249) 2002 GT is an
Apollo asteroid with an
absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse Logarithmic scale, logarithmic Magnitude (astronomy), astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent mag ...
of 18.26.
It is a
potentially hazardous asteroid
A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They are ...
as its orbit crosses that of Earth.
[Stephen Clark]
"Deep Impact sets path for asteroid encounter in 2020"
''Spaceflight Now''. 18 December 2011.
Description
In 2011,
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
considered sending the unmanned spacecraft ''
Deep Impact'' toward the asteroid with the aim of performing a
flyby in 2020. It was uncertain whether ''Deep Impact'' carried sufficient fuel for this operation.
On 24 November 2011 and 4 October 2012, the space probe's thrusters were fired briefly for two trajectory correction maneuvers that targeted Deep Impact for an encounter with 2002 GT in 2020, possibly within a distance of no more than 400 kilometers. However, funding for the flyby mission was not guaranteed.
[Emily Lakdawalla blog entry]
"Deep Impact targets possible 2020 asteroid flyby"
5 October 2012. In June 2013 the asteroid was observed in radar by the
Arecibo Observatory
The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and formerly known as the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, is an observatory in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science F ...
.
However, on 8 August 2013 NASA lost communication with the spacecraft, and on 20 September 2013, NASA abandoned further attempts to contact the craft. According to A'Hearn, the most probable reason of software malfunction was a
Y2K-like problem (at 11 August 2013 0:38:49 it was 2
32 decisecond
A millisecond (from ''milli-'' and second; symbol: ms) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth (0.001 or 10−3 or 1/1000) of a second and to 1000 microseconds.
A unit of 10 milliseconds may be called ...
s from 1 January 2000
).
See also
*
List of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraft
The following tables list all minor planets and comets that have been visited by robotic spacecraft.
List of minor planets visited by spacecraft
A total of 17 minor planets (asteroids, dwarf planets, and Kuiper belt objects) have been visit ...
References
External links
Arecibo data*
*
*
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