An asteroid expected to hurtle past Earth next week will fly
within range of communication satellites but will not hit the
planet, experts said today. Known as 2012 DA14, the asteroid is
around 45 metres in diameter and is on track to whiz within
27,700km above Earth’s surface next Friday at around 9.24am
AEDT, a record close call for an asteroid of this size. The US
space agency NASA said “there is no chance that the asteroid
might be on a collision course with Earth. Nevertheless, the
flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study
a near-Earth object up close.” Professor Phil Bland, an asteroid
expert and ARC Laureate Fellow at Curtin University said such a
close visit would help scientists better prepare for an asteroid
that was actually on track to hit Earth. “One of the things we
are interested in is if we saw something coming that we thought
might be a problem, would we be able to track it accurately
enough to know whether we should try to deflect it or do
something about it?” he said,