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Johannesburg Centre,
Astronomical Society of Southern Africa
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Practice run to save the Earth
The US space agency NASA is planning to send a craft into outer space to intercept two asteroids. The mission is a rehearsal for any that might become essential to protect the Earth against a collision. Clementine II, to be launched next year, will seek out 1986 JK, one of 109 potentially hazardous objects, and later intercept the 3.2Km-wide Toutatis. Both their orbits cross that of the Earth. Scientists want to
know what the asteroids are made of so they can predict what
would happen if they detonated a nuclear bomb beside one to
deflect its path. |
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