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From strange oxygen patterns on Mars to the possibility of past life, scientists are uncovering shocking space secrets! Plus, NASA is gearing up for a potential asteroid impact—are we ready?
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00:00Something is happening on the Red Planet!
00:02Scientists believed that they knew nearly everything about its atmosphere.
00:06But a NASA rover has discovered something unexpected.
00:10There's more oxygen on Mars than they thought, and it behaves in weird ways.
00:15In the spring and summer, oxygen levels go up even more, and no one knows why.
00:22Now, you might think that when there's oxygen in an atmosphere,
00:26it's mostly because there's life somewhere around.
00:29Like trees on Earth that produce oxygen through photosynthesis.
00:33But on Mars, it's not that simple.
00:36Non-living processes can also create oxygen.
00:40So we can't surely say that its presence means there's life on Mars.
00:45Mars has long been one of the main candidates when it comes to looking for signs of extraterrestrial life.
00:51Back in the 90s, scientists announced they had spotted potential proof there could be life on Mars
00:58because of microbes they had found in a meteorite that had arrived from the Red Planet.
01:03It looked like they had found fossils of bacteria.
01:06They actually stumbled upon tiny crystals of magnetite in the meteorite,
01:11which they believed could only have been produced by living organisms.
01:14It was such a mind-boggling discovery.
01:18People were excited, but many were also skeptical.
01:22It didn't prove there really was life on the Red Planet.
01:26Maybe there was life there a long time ago.
01:29The meteorite is thought to have originally formed on Mars billions of years ago,
01:33and to have landed on Earth thousands of years ago.
01:37Skeptics soon started to pick apart the evidence and eventually found some things that didn't make sense.
01:44For example, these magnetite crystals.
01:47No one could be sure how they formed.
01:49Why do they have to be bacteria?
01:51Some research has shown they could be the result of shock waves.
01:57Recently, the Perseverance rover has collected a couple of new rock samples from the Jezero crater on Mars.
02:04The theory says that about 3 billion years ago,
02:07before the Red Planet lost most of its atmosphere and basically just dried out,
02:12there was a big lake with a river flowing from it in that area.
02:16Whoa, what a great environment for life!
02:20Perseverance studied mud samples it had found on the bottom of the evaporated saltwater lake.
02:26Scientists were amazed to see a record number of sulfate molecules,
02:31something we usually find in mollusk shells on our home planet.
02:35Such organisms evolved a couple of hundred million years ago,
02:38but maybe there was a time when some of their space ancestors lived in water bodies on Mars.
02:45Mars has weaker gravity than Earth,
02:48which means these weird species could have got really big there,
02:52way bigger than their Earth cousins.
02:54Gravity plays a significant role when it comes to limiting the size of organisms.
02:59Bigger organisms need more energy to move against gravitational forces.
03:04But the creatures that may have lived there long ago
03:07are just a mix of hypothesis and our imagination,
03:11something that's still really hard to prove.
03:15Meet the Curiosity rover, another robot NASA is using to explore Mars.
03:21Curiosity has been in charge of measuring the composition of the atmosphere of the Red Planet
03:26for many years now.
03:27The rover has discovered that it mostly consists of carbon dioxide
03:31and a little bit of nitrogen and argon.
03:34The atmosphere of Mars has only one-tenth of one percent of oxygen,
03:38since, as far as we know at the moment,
03:41Mars doesn't have plants that could produce enough oxygen.
03:45But Curiosity has also discovered anomalies no one can really explain.
03:51It's found out that there are spikes in oxygen levels in the Gale Crater
03:55during the Martian spring and summer.
03:57Every year, oxygen levels go up and down in unpredictable patterns there.
04:04What's even more interesting is that the oxygen spike is similar to a seasonal spike in methane,
04:10which is a gas we often associate with life on Earth.
04:14No wonder scientists are scratching their heads
04:16and wondering if there's a connection between the two gases
04:20and if they both come from the same source on the Martian surface.
04:24Is there something big that breathes there?
04:27Come on, we'll be happy even with some small space worms in the soil!
04:32There's a type of salt called perchlorates in the Martian soil.
04:36Some scientists believe perchlorates might be responsible
04:39for the strange spikes in oxygen levels.
04:41But like with most things we know about space,
04:44it's just a theory.
04:46Also, scientists think that perchlorates breaking down in the Martian soil
04:51release oxygen too slowly to cause and explain
04:54the sudden increase in oxygen levels.
04:56One of the suspects is hydrogen peroxide,
05:00which is like water's unstable cousin.
05:03Hydrogen peroxide forms when sunlight breaks up carbon dioxide
05:07and water vapor in the Martian atmosphere.
05:10It can seep into the soil and stick to particles underground,
05:14which means it forms some kind of oxygen storage tank.
05:17Some data even show there are pockets of subsurface water in the Martian soil
05:23that may be hiding enough dissolved oxygen to actually support life.
05:29But even if the hydrogen peroxide could stay in the soil for millions of years,
05:33it would still only explain a small part of the increase in the level of oxygen.
05:38So, you can't blame it for the whole thing.
05:41We can also take a look at an old experiment from the 1970s,
05:45where scientists found that moistening the Martian soil
05:48caused it to release a lot of oxygen.
05:51However, they did this experiment at a warmer temperature than the planet's average.
05:56And, again, it doesn't explain how the oxygen spike keeps happening every year.
06:01None of the clues we have seems to fit the case.
06:06Mars may not have enough of its own oxygen,
06:09but it's possible to make this gas there.
06:12NASA conducted a small experiment
06:14where they tried and managed to produce oxygen on Mars.
06:18MOXIE is a device that can make oxygen on Mars.
06:22It managed to produce enough oxygen for an astronaut to breathe for 100 minutes.
06:27This awesome device worked in pretty tough conditions.
06:30At night or during the day,
06:32at extreme temperatures,
06:34and during the crazy dust storms the Red Planet is known for.
06:38Despite all this,
06:39MOXIE still kept up with producing high-purity oxygen.
06:44MOXIE is a clever device that can make oxygen on Mars
06:47by taking in carbon dioxide from the planet's atmosphere
06:50and heating it up to incredibly high temperatures.
06:53This allows the device to pull oxygen atoms from the carbon dioxide
06:58and produce breathable oxygen gas.
07:02If we want to use MOXIE to make enough oxygen for human missions to Mars,
07:07we need to make a bigger version of the device.
07:10But if we make it bigger,
07:12we might have trouble keeping it at the right temperature
07:14and making sure it heats up evenly without breaking.
07:17The ultimate goal would be to create an oxygen device
07:21that could continuously support a human mission for about 400 days.
07:26With a bigger version of MOXIE,
07:28we'd have enough oxygen to support crew members
07:31and even propel a return rocket to our home planet.
07:36When you see the dusty red surface of Mars,
07:38you can't say it's a place that hides liquid water underneath.
07:42Some say it's too cold for water to exist on Mars anyway.
07:46But there are stories that there could be a hidden world of liquid water,
07:50just like subglacial lakes in Antarctica.
07:53And to find out more,
07:55we might have to drill down about a mile beneath the surface.
07:59Unfortunately, it's not going to happen anytime soon.
08:04But in the meantime,
08:06scientists have been using a spacecraft called Mars Express
08:09to study radar reflections around the southern pole of Mars.
08:13The reflections seem to indicate there could be liquid water
08:17and the planet's interior might be keeping it warm.
08:20But some claim it might just be rock.
08:23We hope there are underground lakes on Mars
08:25because it would be a perfect spot to look for life.
08:29After all,
08:30scientists have found bacteria living in subglacial lakes on Earth.
08:34But we don't know for sure how deep they are
08:37or if they're just small veins of water in the ice.
08:41Only time and more exploration will tell.
08:47Mars is the Earth's space cousin.
08:50It's the fourth planet in our solar system,
08:52about half the size of the Earth.
08:54It also has two small moon buddies,
08:57Phobos and Deimos.
08:58These moons are shaped like potatoes.
09:01Phobos is the drama king,
09:03moving closer to Mars
09:04and planning a crash landing in about 50 million years.
09:08Deimos is much calmer though,
09:10hanging out farther away from Mars.
09:12Mars got a cool nickname,
09:14the red planet,
09:15thanks to its rusty red surface.
09:17This color was so bright
09:18that it was spotted by astronomers many years ago.
09:22Even you can sometimes see it in the sky
09:24with the naked eye,
09:25a small scarlet dot.
09:27And maybe it has hot vibes,
09:29but in reality,
09:30Mars is a very cold desert.
09:32The temperatures there can drop as low
09:34as minus 240 degrees Fahrenheit.
09:37But was Mars always nothing more
09:39than a rusty looking desert?
09:41Actually, no.
09:43Scientists believe that,
09:44perhaps many years ago,
09:46this planet was similar to ours.
09:49Meet Curiosity,
09:50the detective rover
09:51made by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
09:55Scientists want to know
09:56all about the Martian weather,
09:58landscape,
09:58and other stuff like that.
10:00Curiosity is a pretty heavy car-sized robot.
10:03It weighs about 1,985 pounds.
10:07It embarked on its journey
10:08on November 26, 2011.
10:11The rover pulled off a landing on Mars
10:13on August 6, 2012.
10:16Originally,
10:17Curiosity's mission was supposed to last
10:19for two years,
10:20but it's still going strong.
10:23Curiosity is basically a space lab on wheels.
10:26It's packed with cameras,
10:28spectrometers,
10:29radiation detectors,
10:30and sensors
10:31to sniff out the Martian environment.
10:33As Curiosity roams around,
10:36it rewinds Mars history.
10:37And during its mission,
10:39the rover discovered something incredible.
10:42Signs of lakes and rivers
10:44from long ago.
10:46You see,
10:47Curiosity's favorite spot to play around
10:49is Gale Crater.
10:50It's a prehistoric Martian oasis
10:52where water might have hung out.
10:54There's this huge mountain in the middle
10:56called Mount Sharp.
10:58This place is taller than 10 Eiffel Towers
11:01stacked on top of each other.
11:02And it's got layers of rocks
11:04that hold Mars' ancient secrets.
11:07Recently,
11:08scientists spotted something great
11:09when studying Curiosity's data.
11:11Mud tracks!
11:13What's so surprising about that?
11:15Well,
11:16these aren't just any old tracks.
11:18They're like messages from the past.
11:20They mean that the Martian ground
11:22used to get wet
11:23and then dry out again.
11:25The mud on the ground
11:26would shrink and crack
11:27during the drying phases,
11:29making these T-shaped junctions.
11:31Moreover,
11:32it seems like the ground on Mars
11:33went through several wet-dry cycles.
11:36It happened maybe up to 10 times.
11:38This made the junctions
11:39turn into Y-shaped cracks.
11:42When a bunch of Y-shaped cracks
11:44got together,
11:45they made a super cool pattern,
11:47something like a patchwork
11:48of hexagons.
11:49It looks just like honeycombs
11:51or even a dragon's skin.
11:53Each of these hexagons
11:54are the size of candy.
11:57Similar cycles have happened on Earth
11:59and they're linked to the birth of life.
12:01When water dries up,
12:03it leaves behind concentrated stuff
12:05that's great for chemical reactions.
12:06And these reactions
12:08might be the same ones
12:09that kick-start life.
12:11These hexagons
12:12have been hanging around
12:12for a really, really long time,
12:15billions of years.
12:16That means
12:17that Mars once had a climate
12:19kind of like Earth's
12:20and maybe even life.
12:23In fact,
12:24the red planet
12:25even has some signs
12:26of water right now
12:27in the form of hidden ice
12:29at the poles.
12:30Mars has the north
12:31and south poles
12:32and just like with the Earth,
12:34they're red planet's ice caps.
12:36Picture the north cap
12:37as a big, icy pancake
12:39about 620 miles wide.
12:41The south cap
12:42is a bit smaller,
12:44about 220 miles wide,
12:45but it's got a thicker ice layer,
12:48almost like a snowball
12:49with a strong shell.
12:51When it's winter at the poles,
12:53it's an incredibly long nighttime.
12:55No sunlight,
12:56just chilly darkness.
12:58During that time,
12:59around 30% of the air
13:01turns into frozen CO2.
13:03It's dry ice,
13:04the same stuff
13:05that's often used
13:06in horror movies.
13:07But when the poles
13:08wake up to sunlight,
13:10the dry ice
13:10turns back into gas.
13:12All this freezing
13:13and thawing
13:14makes clouds and frost,
13:16just like on Earth.
13:17One time,
13:18a rover named Opportunity
13:20even caught some clouds
13:21made of water ice.
13:22But it doesn't necessarily mean
13:25Mars was once thriving
13:26just like the Earth.
13:27Life needs more than
13:29just wet-dry cycles
13:30to pop up.
13:31It needs the right atmosphere
13:32and other special ingredients.
13:34We're not sure
13:35if Mars had all of those.
13:37And even if it did,
13:38there's no guarantee
13:39that life actually happened.
13:42But this raises
13:43another very important question.
13:45Has Mars ever hosted
13:47tiny living creatures?
13:50Curiosity isn't the only robot
13:51that tries to find
13:52the answer to that.
13:54There's also a rover
13:55called Perseverance.
13:56It's trying to find clues
13:58about Martian life.
13:59It's digging into
14:00an old Martian crater
14:01once filled with water.
14:03And like a space archaeologist,
14:06Perseverance is searching
14:07for fossilized signs
14:09of ancient critters.
14:10And here's the funny thing.
14:12Some scientists think
14:13that we've stumbled upon it
14:14almost half a century ago.
14:16The only problem is
14:17we might have
14:18accidentally destroyed it.
14:20It happened even before
14:22Curiosity started
14:23rolling around Mars.
14:24Back in the 1980s,
14:26two cool NASA's landers,
14:28Viking 1 and Viking 2,
14:30made a pit stop
14:31on the Red Planet.
14:32These landers took a selfie.
14:33And then they also did
14:35some funky experiments
14:36on the Martian soil,
14:37all in the name
14:39of finding signs of life.
14:41What they found
14:42is some weird organic stuff
14:44called perchlorate.
14:45It's a compound
14:46that we use in fireworks
14:47or rocket fuel.
14:49But most results
14:50didn't seem that promising.
14:51They even mixed up
14:52some soil with water
14:53and nutrients,
14:54hoping that if there
14:55were Martian microbes,
14:56they'd snack on the goodies
14:58and return radioactive gas
14:59as a result.
15:00But unfortunately,
15:02that didn't happen.
15:03Now, here's the problem.
15:06Some scientists think
15:07that maybe the water
15:08they added back then
15:09actually destroyed
15:11those tiny Martian critters.
15:13Poor microbes
15:14were just hanging out
15:15and suddenly got soaked
15:16by a bunch of weird liquid.
15:19Something like this
15:20wouldn't be very pleasant
15:21for the Earth microbes.
15:22They live inside rocks
15:23and they're sucking water
15:24from the air.
15:26Pouring water on them
15:27would result in a total disaster.
15:29So, of course,
15:30giving them nutrients
15:31after that
15:31wouldn't do anything.
15:33If you've just barely
15:34survived a water bath,
15:36you're probably not
15:37in the mood for a feast.
15:39Perhaps these Martian buddies
15:40might have something
15:41called hydrogen peroxide
15:42in their cells.
15:44It helps them live
15:45in an extreme environment.
15:46If that's true,
15:48it could explain
15:48all the results
15:49from the experiments.
15:50You see,
15:51the instruments
15:52heated up the samples.
15:54So, if there was
15:55hydrogen peroxide,
15:56it would have gone boom,
15:58wiping off the little guys
15:59and turning their cozy homes
16:00instantly.
16:02Imagine how ridiculous
16:03it would be
16:04if it turns out
16:04that we accidentally
16:05destroyed the only
16:07signs of life on Mars.
16:09Ideally,
16:09we need a new mission
16:10to Mars
16:11to test this theory.
16:12Let's hope it's not true.
16:14In any case,
16:16the journey isn't over.
16:17There are more missions
16:18planned for Mars
16:19and humans might even
16:21visit this planet someday.
16:22The next mission
16:24is the Mars Sample Return.
16:26It's a super cool
16:27teamwork project
16:28between NASA
16:28and ESA.
16:30They're teaming up
16:31to bring back
16:32souvenirs from Mars
16:33collected by NASA's
16:34trusty Mars Perseverance rover.
16:37There's going to be
16:38a whole bunch of spaceships.
16:40They'll work together
16:41to bring these precious
16:42Mars samples back.
16:44The samples are planned
16:45to arrive on Earth
16:46in the early to mid-2030s.
16:49And the fun doesn't stop
16:51at Mars.
16:52Our Mars missions
16:53are a warm-up
16:54for an even bigger adventure,
16:55exploring icy moons
16:57around Saturn and Jupiter.
16:59These moons have hidden oceans
17:01beneath their icy surfaces,
17:02and who knows
17:04what kinds of space secrets
17:05they're hiding.
17:06But whether it's Mars,
17:07icy moons,
17:08or beyond,
17:09our quest to find
17:10extraterrestrial life continues.
17:12In addition,
17:13we are slowly starting
17:14to find more and more
17:16organic materials on Mars.
17:18And maybe one day,
17:19we'll finally find
17:20some microbes
17:21in our solar system.
17:22Let's hope for it,
17:23and stay tuned.
17:25A huge asteroid
17:26several hundred feet across
17:28is dashing towards Earth
17:30through the black nothingness
17:31of the cosmos.
17:32Ooh.
17:33Brace for the terrible news.
17:35There's a 72% chance
17:37it might hit Earth
17:38in 14 years,
17:39with potential impact zones
17:41being North America,
17:42Southern Europe,
17:43and North Africa,
17:44some of the most
17:45densely populated areas
17:46on the planet.
17:47Astronomers have been
17:48keeping a close eye
17:49on the space invader
17:50for a few months.
17:51But now,
17:52it's moved too close
17:53to the sun,
17:54and trekking it
17:55is impossible
17:55for the next seven months.
17:57Of course,
17:58there's a 28% chance
17:59that it will miss
18:00our planet altogether.
18:02But what if it doesn't?
18:03Global devastation
18:05and destruction,
18:06that's what.
18:07Thousands of lives lost,
18:08billions and billions
18:09of dollars in damage,
18:11entire species
18:12wiped off the face
18:13of the Earth,
18:14ruined cities and towns,
18:15destroyed fields
18:16and forests.
18:17We're left wondering
18:18whether it's the future
18:19awaiting for us.
18:20Well,
18:21now you can breathe easy.
18:23That's just a hypothetical scenario
18:25created by NASA
18:26to prepare for a situation
18:28like this.
18:29The space agency
18:30has been thinking
18:30about this kind of disaster
18:32for years.
18:33Even cooler,
18:34they run
18:34what-if asteroid exercises
18:36every two years
18:37to get scientists,
18:39state agencies,
18:40and international experts
18:41on the same page.
18:42The last one occurred
18:43in April.
18:44Over a hundred people
18:45took part in that event.
18:47During such asteroid drills,
18:49experts pretend
18:50that a giant space rock
18:51is heading our way.
18:53Then they work through
18:54all the tricky questions
18:55they can come up with,
18:56like,
18:56how big is it?
18:57Where might it hit?
18:59What should we do?
19:00It's like a massive
19:01brainstorming session
19:02to make sure that
19:03if it ever happens,
19:04we won't have to start
19:06from scratch.
19:07To make these scenarios
19:09feel as real as possible,
19:11NASA's Center for Near-Earth
19:12Object Studies
19:13gets involved.
19:14These are folks
19:15who track real asteroids
19:16and calculate their orbits.
19:18So, they simulate
19:19months of asteroid observations,
19:21complete with uncertainties
19:23about its size,
19:24trajectory,
19:24and potential impact zones.
19:26It's the kind of uncertainty
19:28that makes decision-making
19:29way harder,
19:30just like it would be
19:31in real life.
19:33Now, if an astronaut
19:34really was aiming
19:35at Earth,
19:36it wouldn't be
19:37just one country's problem,
19:38it would be everyone's.
19:40That's why this exercise
19:41brings in international experts.
19:44In April,
19:45it happened for the first time.
19:46They worked alongside
19:48U.S. agencies
19:49like NASA's
19:49Planetary Defense
19:50Coordination Office
19:51and FEMA
19:52to understand
19:53how the world
19:54might respond
19:55to such a crisis
19:56since an asteroid impact
19:57would have dire consequences
19:59globally.
20:00Now, the big question is,
20:02can we actually stop
20:03an asteroid
20:03from hitting Earth?
20:04Here, there are
20:05two main options
20:06experts consider.
20:08First, we could send
20:09a spacecraft
20:09to gather more info.
20:10If we knew more
20:12about the asteroid's
20:13size, mass,
20:13and orbit,
20:14we'd be able to make
20:15better decisions
20:16about what to do next.
20:17The second option
20:19is to try to deflect it.
20:20Basically, it means
20:21bumping the asteroid
20:23off its course
20:23so that it misses Earth.
20:25This might sound impossible,
20:27but NASA's DART mission
20:28has already proven
20:29that we can do it.
20:30Two years ago,
20:32they crashed a spacecraft
20:33into a small asteroid
20:34called Dimorphos
20:35and successfully
20:36changed its orbit.
20:37It was a huge victory
20:39for planetary defense.
20:41But missions like that
20:42take tons of time
20:43to plan,
20:44prepare,
20:44and carry out.
20:46That's why spotting
20:47dangerous asteroids
20:47as early as possible
20:49is so important.
20:50Currently,
20:51NASA is working
20:52on a new telescope
20:53called NEO Surveyor,
20:54which is set to launch
20:55in 2027.
20:57Unlike good old telescopes,
20:58NEO Surveyor
21:00is designed to detect
21:01even the trickiest asteroids,
21:03including ones
21:04orbiting close to the sun.
21:05It'll give us
21:06a better chance
21:07to act early
21:08and potentially stop
21:09an asteroid
21:10before it becomes a threat.
21:12If you still think
21:13that an asteroid impact
21:14is something out of
21:15science fiction
21:16and the threat isn't real,
21:18how about this?
21:19Early on Sunday,
21:20January 21st,
21:22a small asteroid
21:23about three feet wide
21:24entered Earth's atmosphere
21:25and luckily,
21:26burned up over Germany.
21:28NASA's scout impact system
21:30spotted it 95 minutes
21:32before it hit
21:32and predicted exactly
21:34when and where
21:35it would arrive.
21:36At 1.32 a.m. local time,
21:39the asteroid
21:39turned into a blazing
21:40bright fireball,
21:42visible as far away
21:43as the Czech Republic.
21:45Some small meteorites
21:46might have landed
21:46near the impact site,
21:48about 37 miles west of Berlin.
21:50This is just the eighth time
21:52ever that an asteroid
21:53has been detected
21:54before it hit Earth.
21:55It's a splendid example
21:57of how tools like Scout
21:58are helping us track asteroids
22:00and prepare for anything bigger
22:02that might come our way.
22:04Here's another example.
22:05A small asteroid
22:07turned the skies
22:07over northeastern Siberia
22:09into a breathtaking light show
22:11on December 4th,
22:12burning up harmlessly
22:13in Earth's atmosphere.
22:15The space rock,
22:16about 28 inches across,
22:18was spotted just hours
22:19before it hit.
22:21Thanks to observations
22:22from astronomers
22:23around the world,
22:24a special alert system
22:26managed to predict
22:26the impact
22:27to plus or minus 10 seconds.
22:29The asteroid
22:30entered Earth's atmosphere
22:31at 1.15 a.m. local time.
22:34The authorities
22:35were put on alert,
22:36but there was
22:36no damage reports.
22:38NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial
22:40Impact Last Alert System,
22:41or ATLAS,
22:42spotted the rock
22:4312 hours
22:44before it entered
22:45the atmosphere.
22:46This makes it
22:47the fourth imminent impactor,
22:48which is an asteroid
22:50discovered within hours
22:51of its expected impact,
22:52detected this year,
22:54and the 11th overall.
22:56Now, China also has
22:57big plans
22:58for planetary defense.
23:00They're working
23:00on their first mission
23:01to hit an asteroid,
23:02and it's got
23:03a double purpose.
23:04One spacecraft
23:05will crash into the asteroid,
23:07and the other
23:07will hang back
23:08to study the whole thing
23:09for up to a year.
23:10In other words,
23:11it's not just about
23:12protecting Earth.
23:13It's also a way
23:14to learn more
23:14about the solar system.
23:16The target
23:17is an asteroid
23:18called 2015
23:20XF-261,
23:21which is a mouthful,
23:23and also about
23:24100 feet wide.
23:25It flew by Earth
23:26recently on July 9th,
23:28passing us
23:28at 31 million miles.
23:30True,
23:31it's pretty far away,
23:32but the space traveler
23:33was zooming by
23:34at a speed
23:35of 26,000 miles per hour,
23:3730 times faster
23:38than the speed of sound.
23:40China is going to
23:41send a space probe
23:42to study the asteroid.
23:44They're hoping
23:44to learn more
23:45about its structure
23:46and composition,
23:46which could help us
23:48with future planetary
23:49defense missions.
23:50Then they plan
23:51to hit the asteroid
23:52with another spacecraft
23:53to test the impact,
23:55and the first space probe
23:56will stay there
23:57to observe the remains
23:58for up to a year.
24:00Timing is critical
24:01for this mission,
24:02and the asteroid
24:02offers some good opportunities
24:04in the next few years.
24:06Thus,
24:06in March and May
24:07of 2027,
24:08the asteroid
24:09will pass
24:10within 20 million miles
24:11of Earth.
24:12In April,
24:132028,
24:14it'll get even closer,
24:15by that I mean
24:1613 million miles away.
24:18A year later,
24:19in April 2029,
24:20the asteroid
24:21will end up
24:22just 4.2 million miles away,
24:24making it the best shot
24:26for a mission.
24:27Another decent chance
24:28will be April 2030.
24:29That's when the asteroid
24:31will pass our planet
24:32at 4.4 million miles.
24:34To give you some context,
24:36NASA's DART mission
24:37once targeted
24:38an asteroid
24:397 million miles away,
24:40and the trip
24:41took 10 months.
24:42So China's planners
24:44have to pick
24:44the right moment,
24:45depending on how long
24:46their spacecraft
24:47will need to get there.
24:48The mission is expected
24:50to start around 2027.
24:52At the same time,
24:53this won't be China's
24:54first attempt
24:55to target an asteroid.
24:56Back in 2023,
24:58they were planning
24:59a planetary defense test
25:00with a different asteroid,
25:01which is also
25:02about 100 feet wide.
25:04It's not clear
25:04why they switched
25:05to the current one,
25:06probably because
25:07the timing works better.
25:09Most asteroids
25:10are basically
25:11time capsules
25:12from 4.6 billion years ago,
25:14leftovers from when
25:15the solar system
25:16was just forming.
25:17Studying them
25:18could tell us a lot
25:19about how planets,
25:21including Earth,
25:22came to be.
25:22So China's taking on
25:24something that combines
25:25planetary defense
25:26and pure space science.
25:28They're definitely
25:29making big moves
25:30in the space exploration game.
25:32I love you guys.
25:32I love you.
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