Scientists Bounced Radio Waves off 500-foot Asteroid, Here’s How it May Help Earth

Last Updated: December 31, 2022, 12:58 ISTThe results of the experiment could aid efforts to defend Earth from larger asteroids that could cause significant damage. (Credits:

Reuters)A group of researchers has sent radio signals into space with the purpose of bouncing them off a 500-feet asteroid to learn about its interior.A group of researchers has

sent radio signals into space with the purpose of bouncing them off a 500-feet asteroid to learn about its interior.The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), a

powerful transmitter in remote Alaska, aimed its antennas at asteroid 2010 XC15, a space rock categorized as a near-Earth potentially hazardous asteroid, to send long wavelength

radio signals.The results of the experiment could aid efforts to defend Earth from larger asteroids that could cause significant damage."We will be analyzing the data over the next

few weeks and hope to publish the results in the coming months," said Mark Haynes, lead investigator on the project and a radar systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

in Southern California.This experiment was the first time an asteroid observation was attempted at such low frequencies."This shows the value of HAARP as a potential future

research tool for the study of near-Earth objects," he added.Several programs exist to quickly detect asteroids, determine their orbit and shape and image their surface, either

with optical telescopes or the planetary radar of the Deep Space Network, NASA's network of large and highly sensitive radio antennas in California, Spain and Australia.Long

wavelength radio signals can reveal the interior of objects.HAARP, using three powerful generators, began transmitting chirping signals of long wavelength this week and continued

sending them uninterrupted until the scheduled end of the 12-hour experiment.Data analysis is expected to take several weeks.The experiment also served as a test for probing an

asteroid larger than 2010 XC15.Asteroid Apophis, discovered in 2004, will make its closest approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. It will come within about 20,000 miles of Earth,

closer than the many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.Read all the Latest Buzz News here(This story has not been edited by healthick staff and is published from a

syndicated news agency feed)