Always fun when your stories happen in real life – an asteroid fly-by happened a few weeks ago – that’s just like Mike.Sierra.Echo! CNet reports: “An asteroid the size of a car was discovered the same day it made a close approach to Earth, coming closer to the surface than the ring of large telecommunications satellites in geosynchronous orbit.”
InterestingEngineering has more: “Due to its proximity to the Earth, 2022 YO1 is classified as a Near Earth Object (NEO), and it could hit the Earth during one of its future orbits. According to NASA’s page, on December 17, the asteroid flew at a relative velocity of 34,450 miles an hour as it zipped past the Earth. As per estimations of its next orbit, 2022 YO1 could fly as close as 3,380 miles (5,439 km) exactly two years from the day it was first spotted.”
What if 2022 YO1 hits the atmosphere?
What happens if 2022 YO1 hits Earth? Likely nothing. 2022 YO1 is too small to be anything other than a shooting star, but it’s nice to know somebody’s watching the skies for a big one! 2022 YO1 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, a NEO Observations Program to identify 1 kilometre (0.62 mile) or larger objects.
In fact, If you want to drop into a DEEP ASTRONOMICAL RABBIT HOLE – start digging into all the objects being tracked by the Catalina Sky Survey, including 2006 JY26, which might hit Earth in 2073. NASA has more to say about this. The Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is the first space telescope specifically designed to hunt asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth.
This is of deep interest to me since one of the main characters of Mike.Sierra.Echo is an asteroid – 2340 Hathor is an eccentric stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid. It’s going to be used as the counterweight to Mike’s space elevator with world-changing, universe-impacting results!
Mike Sierra Echo is a fact-based science fiction adventure that explores the real-world challenges of building this extra-terrestrial technology. Scientists have been researching space elevators since the 1800s, but there are still many unsolved problems. Once you learn about those areas of exploration, you’ll be invited to ‘nerd out’ about current discoveries and new opportunities to fill in the blanks on space travel, nanotech, and artificial intelligences. I’m building a plan on what that looks like, right now.
We don’t know what the future holds but it’s fun to imagine what might happen. Keep your eyes peeled for Mike Sierra Echo by joining the Inkican Crew and keep watching the skies!
