Scientists in Alberta have unveiled plans to launch mini-satellite that will be able to track the skies day and night, and send back early warning of dangerous asteroids approaching Earth.
Currently, all asteroid tracking is done here on earth. The sun blocks astronomers' view and they can study asteroids only at night.
But the Canadian-designed NEOSat (Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) is expected to launch in 2010 and its 15 cm-diameter telescope will do 24-hour tracking from space.
NEOSat is small -- described as the size of a large suitcase and weighing only 60 kilograms. It is designed to provide an early warning of any dangerous asteroids approaching earth.
Canada already has a similar minisatellite up in the air: MOST (Microvariability and Oscillation of STars), a 60-kilogram satellite designed to measure the age of stars in our galaxy.
Advantages of the NEOSat observation system:
- A darker sky and continuous availability
- Can observe near the Sun and survey a little-known population of asteroids
- Can determine distances to near-Earth asteroids using parallax
"If we can have a telescope that is in orbit that can monitor the skies in all directions, we are able to see areas beyond the sun," Dr. Alan Hildebrand told Canada AM. "Which is something that we haven't been able to do in the past."
Hildebrand holds a Canada Research Chair in Planetary Science in the University of Calgary's Department of Geoscience and is leading the NEOSat team.
The UofC has been working with a contractor since 1999 on planning the project, and chose this week to announce the launch -- to remind Canadians that threat of a giant asteroid crashing into earth isn't just a Hollywood special effects trick.
Today, June 30, is the 100th anniversary of Tunguska Event, when a 50-metre meteorite crashed into a remote region of Siberia.
Tunguska's asteroid devastated more than 7,800 square kilometers and wiped out 60 million trees, with an unleashed energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb.
Hildebrand says there are thousands of asteroids winging through space at least three times bigger than the Tunguska object, and one of them could possibly destroy a major Canadian city.
