MIT researchers have developed a method to map an asteroid’s inside construction, or density distribution, by analyzing how the asteroid’s spin modifications because it makes a detailed encounter with extra large objects like Earth. The method might enhance the goal of future missions to deflect an asteroid headed for us, as demonstrated in NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test in September.
Knowing what’s inside an asteroid might assist scientists plan the simplest protection. “If you know the density distribution of the asteroid, you could hit it at just the right spot so it actually moves away,” says Jack Dinsmore ’22, coauthor of the paper on this work with Julien de Wit, PhD ’14, an assistant professor within the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
“It’s similar to how you can tell the difference between a raw and boiled egg,” de Wit says. “If you spin the egg, the egg responds and spins differently depending on its interior properties. The same goes for an asteroid during a close encounter.”
The group is keen to use the strategy to Apophis, a near-Earth asteroid that would pose a big hazard if it have been to make impression. Scientists have dominated out the chance of a collision for a minimum of a century, however past that, their forecasts develop fuzzy.