Jump to content

HAARP hit an asteroid with 9.6 million radio waves - Preparation against Apophis?


Recommended Posts

Posted
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and NASA want to examine the 2010 XC15 space rock to test their preparation against Apophis. This dangerous asteroid might hit our planet in 2029. It is believed that on April 13, 2029, Apophis will be 10 times closer to Earth than the moon. 

haarp%20apophis%20radio%20waves.jpg

The researchers will use the HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) array to shoot 9.6 megahertz radio waves at the 500-foot-wide 2010 XC15 asteroid. 

HAARP is a government-funded research program that generally studies the ionosphere (part of Earth’s atmosphere at 50 to 400 miles above the surface). However, this will be the first time it will be employed to examine an asteroid. 

Astronomers have been shooting radio waves in space to spot asteroids; figure out their shape, trajectory, structure of their surface, and many other characteristics. For this purpose, they use radio waves having frequency ranges either in the S-band (2,000 to 4,000 MHz) or X-band (8,000 to 12,000 MHz). 

Interestingly, for probing 2010 XC15, the researchers are using waves of much lower frequency (9.6 MHz) and longer wavelengths because, this time, they don’t just want to explore the surface of the asteroid. They want to know what’s inside. 

Information about the interiors could reveal important details about the damage that an asteroid could cause and help scientists figure out an effective counter-strategy. 

Flashback: On December 27, the distance between 2010 XC15 and Earth will be around twice the distance between Earth and the moon. HAARP will be shooting 9.6 million chirping radio waves every second to this distance, and this process will be repeated every two seconds. This test is crucial because if the researchers can successfully examine 2010 XC15 using low-frequency radio waves at such a long distance. Then they could easily employ the same method to analyze Apophis. 

Although the 2029 asteroid is most likely to miss Earth, in case it doesn’t, the consequences could be catastrophic. 

For instance, in response to an FAQ that explores the possibility of Apophis hitting Earth, The Planetary Society wrote on its website, “Apophis would cause widespread destruction up to several hundred kilometers from its impact site. The energy released would be equal to more than 1,000 megatons of TNT, or tens to hundreds of nuclear weapons.” 

Moreover, Apophis is just one asteroid. There will be many asteroids that will pass by, or might even hit, Earth in the future. Low-frequency radio waves could play a key role in understanding the composition of these mysterious space objects and, at the same time, help us strengthen our planetary defense mechanism. 

However, before all this happens, HAARP and its low-frequency radio waves will have to pass their first test, which indeed has been carried out on December 27. 

If the experiment worked, the pulses also reached asteroid 2010 XC15, which passed by Earth on Dec. 27th at a distance of 770,000 km. Researchers from NASA and the University of Alaska pinged 2010 XC15 with shortwave radio signals to probe the asteroid's interior--a first if it worked. They are still waiting for confirmation that the reflections were received, as expected, by antenna arrays in California and New Mexico. 

They say that the 2029 Asteroid Apophis is most likely to miss Earth, but the fact that they perform this first test indicates that they are not 100 percent sure whether it will hit the Earth or not. 

Also interesting is that they want to know what's inside asteroids, such as Apophis, but what will happen if they discover that the inside of an asteroid is made up of advanced technology, a hollow spacecraft built by aliens and disguised as an asteroid, like the infamous space rock ‘Oumuamua’.

 

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By Space Force
      The Industry Day assisted commercial launch service and space capability providers in planning for NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 on-ramp opportunities.

      View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has requested funding to participate in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses).
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
      Curiosity Blog, Sols 4636-4637: Up Against a Wall
      NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, showing itself parked at the wall of a fracture named “Río Frío.” Curiosity used its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 19, 2025 — Sol 4634, or Martian day 4,634 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 14:51:33 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator, Framework
      Earth planning date: Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025
      What does a good rover do when her back is up against a wall? Fight for science!
      Curiosity indeed fought the good fight at “Río Frío,” the wall of one of the many ridges cutting through the boxwork terrain we have been systematically exploring. The observations along the wall today provide insight into the internal structure and chemistry of the ridges, hopefully giving us clues as to why they are standing proud relative to the surrounding terrain.
      The structural story will be told by the large Mastcam mosaics we planned, covering the ridge from base to top, and from a MAHLI mosaic covering a horizon of the wall filled with resistant nodules and smooth, swooping surfaces cutting in all directions that are likely veins. The mosaic target, “Jardín de las Delicias,” will surely yield a surfeit of Martian delights. The chemical story will be told by APXS analysis of the nodule-filled target “Minimini” and SuperCam analysis of a vein at “El Tapado.” In contrast to the ridge itself, we planned a Mastcam mosaic of part of the hollow at the base of the ridge at target “Playa Zapatilla.” 
      Beyond the ridge, we planned Mastcam and ChemCam imaging of the “Paniri” and “Mishe Mokwa” buttes, respectively, and sky observations with Navcam and Mastcam. DAN, RAD, and REMS run periodically through the plan keeping their eye on the Martian environment. Our drive will take us to a smaller ridge perpendicular to Río Frío, where we will once again fight to learn the secrets these ridges have to tell about  Mars’ past.

      Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?



      Visit Mission Updates


      Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?



      Visit the Science Instruments page


      NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Share








      Details
      Last Updated Aug 20, 2025 Related Terms
      Blogs Explore More
      3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4634-4635: A Waiting Game


      Article


      1 day ago
      2 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4631-4633: Radiant Ridge Revolution


      Article


      1 day ago
      2 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4629-4630: Feeling Hollow


      Article


      3 days ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Mars


      Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…


      All Mars Resources


      Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…


      Rover Basics


      Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…


      Mars Exploration: Science Goals


      The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

      View the full article
    • By NASA
      X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Hong Kong/S. Zhang et al.; Radio: ATNF/CSIRO/ATCA; H-alpha: UK STFC/Royal Observatory Edinburgh; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk In 2009, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory released a captivating image: a pulsar and its surrounding nebula that is shaped like a hand.
      Since then, astronomers have used Chandra and other telescopes to continue to observe this object. Now, new radio data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), has been combined with Chandra’s X-ray data to provide a fresh view of this exploded star and its environment, to help understand its peculiar properties and shape.
      At the center of this new image lies the pulsar B1509-58, a rapidly spinning neutron star that is only about 12 miles in diameter. This tiny object is responsible for producing an intricate nebula (called MSH 15-52) that spans over 150 light-years, or about 900 trillion miles. The nebula, which is produced by energetic particles, resembles a human hand with a palm and extended fingers pointing to the upper right in X-rays.
      Labeled Version of the ImageX-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Hong Kong/S. Zhang et al.; Radio: ATNF/CSIRO/ATCA; H-alpha: UK STFC/Royal Observatory Edinburgh; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk The collapse of a massive star created the pulsar when much of the star crashed inward once it burned through its sustainable nuclear fuel. An ensuing explosion sent the star’s outer layers outward into space as a supernova.
      The pulsar spins around almost seven times every second and has a strong magnetic field, about 15 trillion times stronger than the Earth’s. The rapid rotation and strong magnetic field make B1509-58 one of the most powerful electromagnetic generators in the Galaxy, enabling it to drive an energetic wind of electrons and other particles away from the pulsar, creating the nebula.
      In this new composite image, the ATCA radio data (represented in red) has been combined with X-rays from Chandra (shown in blue, orange and yellow), along with an optical image of hydrogen gas (gold). The areas of overlap between the X-ray and radio data in MSH 15-52 show as purple. The optical image shows stars in the field of view along with parts of the supernova’s debris, the supernova remnant RCW 89. A labeled version of the figure shows the main features of the image.
      Radio data from ATCA now reveals complex filaments that are aligned with the directions of the nebula’s magnetic field, shown by the short, straight, white lines in a supplementary image. These filaments could result from the collision of the pulsar’s particle wind with the supernova’s debris.
      Complex Filaments Aligned with the Directions of the Nebula’s Magnetic FieldX-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Hong Kong/S. Zhang et al.; Radio: ATNF/CSIRO/ATCA; H-alpha: UK STFC/Royal Observatory Edinburgh; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk By comparing the radio and X-ray data, researchers identified key differences between the sources of the two types of light. In particular, some prominent X-ray features, including the jet towards the bottom of the image and the inner parts of the three “fingers” towards the top, are not detected in radio waves. This suggests that highly energetic particles are leaking out from a shock wave — similar to a supersonic plane’s sonic boom — near the pulsar and moving along magnetic field lines to create the fingers.
      The radio data also shows that RCW 89’s structure is different from typical young supernova remnants. Much of the radio emission is patchy and closely matches clumps of X-ray and optical emission. It also extends well beyond the X-ray emission. All of these characteristics support the idea that RCW 89 is colliding with a dense cloud of nearby hydrogen gas.
      However, the researchers do not fully understand all that the data is showing them. One area that is perplexing is the sharp boundary of X-ray emission in the upper right of the image that seems to be the blast wave from the supernova — see the labeled feature. Supernova blast waves are usually bright in radio waves for young supernova remnants like RCW 89, so it is surprising to researchers that there is no radio signal at the X-ray boundary.
      MSH 15–52 and RCW 89 show many unique features not found in other young sources. There are, however, still many open questions regarding the formation and evolution of these structures. Further work is needed to provide better understanding of the complex interplay between the pulsar wind and the supernova debris.
      A paper describing this work, led by Shumeng Zhang of the University of Hong Kong, with co-authors Stephen C.Y. Ng of the University of Hong Kong and Niccolo’ Bucciantini of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, has been published in The Astrophysical Journal and is available at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adf333.
      NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
      Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
      https://www.nasa.gov/chandra
      https://chandra.si.edu
      Visual Description
      This release features a composite image of a nebula and pulsar that strongly resembles a cosmic hand reaching for a neon red cloud.
      The neon red cloud sits near the top of the image, just to our right of center. Breaks in the cloud reveal interwoven strands of gold resembling spiderwebs, or a latticework substructure. This cloud is the remains of the supernova that formed the pulsar at the heart of the image. The pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star only 12 miles in diameter, is far too small to be seen in this image, which represents a region of space over 150 light-years across.
      The bottom half of the image is dominated by a massive blue hand reaching up toward the pulsar and supernova cloud. This is an intricate nebula called MSH 15-52, an energetic wind of electrons and other particles driven away from the pulsar. The resemblance to a hand is undeniable. Inside the nebula, streaks and swirls of blue range from pale to navy, evoking a medical X-ray, or the yearning hand of a giant, cosmic ghost.
      The hand and nebula are set against the blackness of space, surrounded by scores of gleaming golden specks. At our lower left, a golden hydrogen gas cloud extends beyond the edges of the image. In this composite, gold represents optical data; red represents ATCA radio data; and blue, orange, and yellow represent X-ray data from Chandra. Where the blue hand of the nebula overlaps with the radio data in red, the fingers appear hazy and purple.
      News Media Contact
      Megan Watzke
      Chandra X-ray Center
      Cambridge, Mass.
      617-496-7998
      mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu
      Corinne Beckinger
      Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
      256-544-0034
      corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Aug 20, 2025 EditorLee MohonContactCorinne M. Beckingercorinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov Related Terms
      Astrophysics Chandra X-Ray Observatory Marshall Astrophysics Marshall Space Flight Center Nebulae Pulsars The Universe Explore More
      5 min read NASA, Army National Guard Partner on Flight Training for Moon Landing
      Article 2 days ago 4 min read NASA Challenge Winners Cook Up New Industry Developments
      Article 2 days ago 3 min read NASA Seeks Proposals for 2026 Human Exploration Rover Challenge 
      Article 5 days ago View the full article
    • By NASA
      A white-tailed deer fawn photographed on a Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera in Vernon County, WI Credit: WI DNR The Snapshot Wisconsin project recently collected their 100 millionth trail camera photo! What’s more, this milestone coincides with the project’s 10-year anniversary. Congratulations to the team and everyone who’s participated!
      Snapshot Wisconsin utilizes a statewide network of volunteer-managed trail cameras to monitor and better understand the state’s diverse wildlife from white-tailed deer to snowshoe hares, whooping cranes, and much more.
      “It’s been amazing to get a glimpse of our wild treasures via the Snapshot lens,” said one volunteer. “Satisfying to help advance wildlife research in the digital age.”
      Snapshot Wisconsin was launched in 2013 with help from a NASA grant, and is overseen by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. It recently won a new grant from NASA’s Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program.
      Volunteer classifications of the species present in trail camera photos have fueled many different scientific investigations over the years. You, too, can get involved in the merriment by visiting the project’s site on the Zooniverse crowdsourcing platform and helping classify their latest photo season today!
      Facebook logo @nasascience @nasascience Instagram logo @nasascience Linkedin logo @nasascience Share








      Details
      Last Updated Aug 06, 2025 Related Terms
      Citizen Science Earth Science Division Explore More
      4 min read STEM Educators Are Bringing Hands-On NASA Science into Virginia Classrooms


      Article


      2 days ago
      2 min read Radio JOVE Volunteers Tune In to the Sun’s Low Notes


      Article


      2 weeks ago
      2 min read Bring NASA Science into Your Library!


      Article


      2 weeks ago
      View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...