{"id":119413,"date":"2024-07-12T20:06:56","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T14:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&#038;p=119413"},"modified":"2024-07-13T10:30:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-13T05:00:47","slug":"isros-venture-into-planetary-defence","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/isros-venture-into-planetary-defence","title":{"rendered":"ISRO\u2019s Venture into Planetary Defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an <\/span><b>international workshop held in Bengaluru to mark the Asteroid Day 2024,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/isro-indian-space-research-organisation\/\"> ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)<\/a> Chairman expressed his desire for <\/span><b>India to participate in a planetary Defence Mission in space ahead of the asteroid Apophis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> close shave with Earth on <\/span><b>April 13, 2029 a<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t a distance of 32,000 km.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Asteroid Day: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The day is observed every year by the <\/span><b>space community on June 30 on account of a huge air blast from an asteroid flattening 2,200 sq km of forest in Siberia, Russia, on June 30, 1908.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>About Apophis<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Discovered:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Asteroid Apophis was <\/span><b>discovered back in 2004 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when scientists estimated a <\/span><b>\u00a02.7% chance of the asteroid colliding\u00a0 with Earth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (the highest probability of any large asteroid hitting Earth in the recent past)\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Size: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apophis measures about<\/span><b> 450 m at its widest and <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with a 200-metre diameter is expected to be<\/span><b> peanut-shaped,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> just like most asteroids of this size.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Sphere:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Its sphere is<\/span><b> of 360 days<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is a<\/span><b>lmost one Earth year, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and as a result, it can be seen often in the Earth\u2019s vicinity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-119394 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/125-66912ffac5908.webp\" alt=\"Planetary Defence\" width=\"455\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/125-66912ffac5908.webp 930w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/125-66912ffac5908-300x131.webp 300w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/125-66912ffac5908-768x334.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px\" \/><b>Probability of Collision with Earth:\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The object\u2019s coming and impacting the Earth has a<\/span><b> probability of\u00a0 more than one in 100, which is termed as high risk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and\u00a0 could cause large-scale damage.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Encounter with Earth: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The asteroid will come the <\/span><b>closest to Earth in 2029, when it will fly at a distance of 32,000 km<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> close enough to be visible to the naked eye<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>2036<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The asteroid is assumed to <\/span><b>come back in 2036 again<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but at a further distance. It is feared that any change in gravity will have a larger chance of having an\u00a0 impact on Earth in 2036.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Mission to Apophis: NASA has already redirecte<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">d one of its spacecraft ( which <\/span><b>studied the asteroid Bennu)\u00a0 to track Apophis.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This spacecraft will go within a<\/span><b> distance of 4,000 km of Apophis in April 2029,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and then trail the asteroid for 18 months, collecting data and analyzing its surface.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pw.live\/batches\/upsc?utm_source=seo+upsc+batch&#038;utm_medium=seo+upsc&#038;utm_campaign=seo&#038;utm_id=upsc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enroll now for UPSC Online Course<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Asteroids and their Threat<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>About: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asteroids are sometimes also called minor planets, <\/span><b>are rocky, airless remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about 4.6 billion years ago.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The current known asteroid<\/span><b> count is 1,379,767<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Orbits:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Most asteroids can be found <\/span><b>orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and objects in the <\/span><b>Kuiper Belt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (a doughnut-shaped region of icy bodies extending far beyond the orbit of Neptune)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Size Profile<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Asteroids range in size from <\/span><b>Vesta being the largest at about 329 miles <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(530 kilometers) in diameter to other objects <\/span><b>measuring less than 33 feet (10 meters) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">across.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Mass: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The total mass of all the asteroids combined <\/span><b>is less than that of Earth&#8217;s Moon.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Threat to Earth:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thousands of asteroids enter the Earth\u2019s atmosphere every single day in the form of Meteors and Meteorites but they are not large enough to cause much damage.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Cause Mass Extinction:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Asteroids are hypothesized to have caused the<\/span><b> extinction of dinosaurs<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Chelyabinsk Meteor Explosion: I<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n <\/span><b>2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a 20-metre wide asteroid exploded about<\/span><b> 30 km above a Russian town, releasing energy equivalent to 26 to 33 times <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">released by the atom bomb that detonated over Hiroshima.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the Russian Ministry of Health, while most of this energy was absorbed by the atmosphere, <\/span><b>shock waves travelled to the ground, flattened trees, damaged buildings, and injured 1,491 people.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Need for a Planetary Defence:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Threat from an Undetected Asteroid:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The 2013 Russian asteroid was detected only after it entered the atmosphere as\u00a0 it<\/span><b> came from the direction of the Sun, and was hidden by its glare <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which prompted the scientists to embark on a Planetary Defence mission.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Track and Neutralise: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although scientists have knowledge about at least 1.3 million asteroids, but there could be more surprises in store thus,\u00a0 A planetary defense programme is a must to track and neutralize these threats.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>ISRO\u2019s plans for Apophis<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Joint\u00a0 Apophis Asteroid Mission: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ISRO is looking to <\/span><b>collaborate in any capacity <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to study the asteroid Apophis which could<\/span><b> involve putting an instrument on the JAXA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), <\/span><b>ESA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (European Space Agency), <\/span><b>and NASA <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) <\/span><b>Joint Apophis asteroid mission.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Aim:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ISRO\u2019s main purpose is to <\/span><b>participate and learn and spread their knowledge base<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 in whatever capacity by\u00a0 providing support in some or any manner to the international missions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Future Scope<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: ISRO aims to position India to handle an asteroid mission, land on an asteroid, and possibly carry out a planetary defence action to protect Earth as a leading space fearing nation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Learnings from NASA\u2019s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The mission showed a s<\/span><b>pacecraft\u2019s kinetic impact successfully altering the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, marking the <\/span><b>first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and humanity\u2019s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Follow up Mission:<\/b> <b>The European Space Agency\u2019s Hera mission <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will launch in 2024 to visit asteroid Dimorphos and <\/span><b>survey the aftermath of the DART impact.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Upcoming NASA mission: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NASA\u2019s upcoming <\/span><b>NEO Surveyor mission <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will help in this regard, <\/span><b>pinpointing 90% of near-Earth objects<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with diameters of at least 140 meters (460 feet) within 10 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.pw.live\/govt-entrance-exams\/upsc-books?utm_source=SEO&#038;utm_medium=PW+Live&#038;utm_campaign=UPSC+CSE+Books\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check Out UPSC CSE Books From PW Store<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100.099%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%;\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: #000000;\"><b>Planetary Defense<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planetary defense is the <\/span><b>effort to monitor and protect Earth from asteroids, comets and other objects in space<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Planetary Defense Systems:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They\u00a0 work to<\/span><b> identify potentially harmful objects in proximity to Earth (Near Earth Objects) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While these systems have not yet identified or dealt with any major threats, NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and other organizations are preparing to redirect or destroy dangerous objects one day.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Asteroid\u00a0 Deflection Techniques:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Kinetic Impactor: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The principle is to<\/span><b> slam an object like a spacecraft into an asteroid, changing its trajectory.<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the<\/span><b> only planetary defense technique that has been tested on an actual asteroid.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> DART, NASA\u2019s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, was intentionally crashed into the asteroid moon Dimorphos in 2022 altering\u00a0 Dimorphos\u2019 orbit around parent asteroid Didymos by 33 minutes<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>A Gravity Tractor: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u00a0 is a spacecraft that would <\/span><b>fly alongside an asteroid, using its own gravity to tug on the asteroid<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and slowly change its trajectory. This method offers the greatest control, allowing us to carefully direct an asteroid away from Earth<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Laser Ablation Technique:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It\u00a0 envisions one or more spacecraft <\/span><b>focusing lasers on the surface of an asteroid, vaporizing rock and creating small ejecta plumes. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These plumes push on the asteroid, slowly changing its course.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Nuclear blast:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This technique would fire a nuke-laden spacecraft at an asteroid in an attempt to deflect it away from Earth.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100.03%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 137.924%; text-align: center; border-style: solid; 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