An Asteroid Is Passing Earth Today, so Scientists Are Shooting It With Radio Waves

A group of researchers are trying to bounce radio signals off a 500-foot wide asteroid.

A space rock that is categorized as a near-Earth potentially hazardous asteroid is the target of the High Frequency Active Auroral Research program. A test run is being done to prepare for a close encounter between our planet and a larger object in 2029.

Mark Haynes, lead investigator on the project and a radar systems engineer at NASA, said in a statement that they are trying to probe asteroid interiors with long wavelength radars and radio telescopes. The radio wavelength used for communication can't penetrate the interior of an object like the longer wavelength can.

One of the subject of a lot of conspiracy theories is the HAARP. It spans 33 acres and is made up of 180 high-frequency antennas. The ionosphere is the part of the atmosphere that is ionized above Earth. In order to measure the effects of the Sun on the ionosphere, HAARP sends radio signals to the ionosphere.

One of the 13 experiments that the facility launched in October involved bouncing signals off the Moon. Researchers at the HAARP were considering sending a radio signal to an asteroid to look at the inside of the body.

During today's experiment, the HAARP antennas in Alaska will transmit the radio signals to the asteroid, and then scientists will check if the reflected signals arrive at antenna array at the University of New Mexico.

The chirp will repeat for two seconds at a time. The asteroid will be twice as far away from Earth as the moon is.

Prepare for an asteroid encounter in 2029. The asteroid will come within 20,000 miles of Earth on April 13, 2029. NASA ruled out that the near-Earth object posed a risk to Earth in 2068.

HAARP wants to probe the asteroid to make sure it's safe. The more time there is before the impact, the more options there are.

In September, DART struck into a small asteroid and changed its position. There is a chance that a space rock could be diverted.

There is a chance of using long wavelength radio signals to probe the interiors of asteroids. Haynes said that if the ground-based systems are up and running, they will have a lot of chances to try to do interior sense of the objects.

There is a powerful recoil effect.