NASA: In 2029, a huge asteroid will fly very close to Earth and likely crash into several communications satellites.
In 2029, the asteroid 99942 Apophis will be close enough to the Earth’s surface to sweep away the highest-flying satellites. According to NASA, no rock that size has ever flown closer.
Named after the serpentine demon of darkness and chaos, the cosmic rock is about the size of the Eiffel Tower. The distance of 16.7 million kilometers in which it reached our planet in May 2021 is not particularly shocking (44 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon). Although on February 1, 2021, a similar-sized rock named 2016 CL136 was three times closer. Looking at the number of entries in the list of flybys of so-called near-Earth asteroids, we can consider ourselves lucky. After all, the Apollo group, or asteroids crossing the Earth’s orbit, has more than 13.5 thousand “members”. One of them has already passed us on January 5.
Apophis belongs to the group of asteroids named after the Greek goddess of war Athena. It is a near-Earth celestial body orbiting the Sun and within Earth’s orbit. Its flyby in 8 years, which on its last visit can be announced today, could spell trouble for some of the equipment orbiting high above our heads. Asteroid 99942 having in its “belt” 340 meters, that is more than the height of the Eiffel Tower on…
