The asteroids near the Earth (NEA) are those whose trajectory takes them less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun – one AU is equivalent to the distance between our planet and the star king, more or less about 150 million kilometres-. Well, according to the Coordination Center for Near-Earth Objects of the European Space Agency (ESA), at this time 20,441 of them are known. ESA experts consider that 861 deserve special attention, as they follow orbits that lead them to pass very close to the globe, at least from an astronomical point of view – a NEA is considered to be potentially dangerous when it approaches less of 7.5 million kilometers from the Earth and the study of its luminosity determines that it is around 140 meters in diameter.
To rule out a collision, the shape and motion of these cosmic rocks must be determined as precisely as possible. And if, in addition, it is done quickly, much better. Such a thing can often take months of work. Now, a team of researchers from Washington State University has developed a technique that allows it to be done 25 times earlier than with the tools that have been used so far. To do this, they have optimized the software commonly used to track NEAs.
Better than a supercomputer
In a study published in the journal Astronomy and Computing , a group of experts in engineering and applied sciences from the aforementioned American institution explains how this program improves the performance of its predecessor, which dates back to the mid-1990s. It takes advantage of the data provided by observatories and radar systems to predict the possible composition of a NEA, how it rotates in space or the path it will follow in the future. Thanks to the new version of the code –although it was originally written for a supercomputer, the most recent one can be used with conventional equipment–, the operations that make this possible are no longer carried out one by one, as had been the case, but simultaneously. In fact, according to those responsible for the trial, its operation is not very different from the way in which current computers construct images from digital information.
In addition to determining if an asteroid can pose a threat, this initiative can help to understand in detail what it is made of, how it formed and its evolution, which, in turn, will improve our understanding of the solar system. In a statement, the scientists also point out that this will facilitate the exploitation of these rocks and the use of their resources. By some estimates, a 45-meter, 130,000-ton asteroid could contain water and metals valuable to industry, such as gold and platinum, worth 150 billion euros. What’s more, there are already different projects that aim to evaluate the possibilities of mining this type of object. The researchers hope that by the end of the year the astronomical community will be able to access a final version of the code.
Referencia: GPU-accelerated algorithm for asteroid shape modeling. M. Engels et al. Astronomy and Computing. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ascom.2019.05.003
Image: ESA – P. Carril
