(163249) 2002 GT is an
Apollo asteroid
The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. They are Earth-crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Ear ...
with an
absolute magnitude 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 which is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. Th ...
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 agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
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
Y2K may refer to:
* Y2K problem, a computer issue related to the year 2000
* Year 2K, the year 2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular cultu ...
-like problem (at 11 August 2013 0:38:49 it was 2
32 deciseconds 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 19 minor planets (asteroids, dwarf planets, and Kuiper belt objects) have been visi ...
References
External links
Arecibo data*
*
*
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