ASTEROID ORBITING
EARTH?
An asteroid known as Asteroid 1986DA
has been found to contain some 100,000
tonnes of platinum and 10,000 tonnes of
gold.
The 2km long 'space nugget' would be
worth approx $120 billion on today's market.
The asteroid's orbit brings it tantalisingly
close to Earth, a mere 32 million kilometres
away. It is hoped that the development
of robotic engineering will one day harvest
the orbiting fortune.
Scientists speculate that this asteroid was
once the core of a 'proto planet' measuring
up to 500km across.
( S o u rce: Sunday Telegraph, 9th June
1991)From WIKIPEDIA.....
(6178) 1986 DA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Minoru Kizawa |
| Discovery date | February 16, 1986 |
| Designations | |
| Alternative names | none |
| Minor planet category | Amor asteroid |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch July 14, 2004 (JD 2453200.5) | |
| Aphelion | 666.686 Gm (4.457 AU) |
| Perihelion | 173.713 Gm (1.161 AU) |
| Semi-major axis | 420.199 Gm (2.809 AU) |
| Eccentricity | 0.587 |
| Orbital period | 1719.466 d (4.71 a) |
| Average orbital speed | 17.77 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 311.696° |
| Inclination | 4.310° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 64.795° |
| Argument of perihelion | 127.171° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 2.3 km 1 |
| Mass | ~2×1013 kg |
| Mean density | 5 g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity | ? m/s² |
| Escape velocity | ? km/s |
| Rotation period | 0.149 d [1] |
| Albedo | ~0.14 |
| Temperature | ~164 K |
| Spectral type | M-type asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 15.1 |
Radar measurements suggest it is composed of nickel and iron and that it was derived from the center of a much larger object that experienced melting and differentiation. The observed radar albedo was 0.58 and the optical albedo was 0.14.[1]
This asteroid was most probably formed from a larger body through a catastrophic collision with another object. Radar measurements of this body indicate that the surface is relatively smooth on scales of less than a meter, but it is highly irregular on scales of 10–100 meters.
The delta-v for a spacecraft rendezvous with this asteroid from low earth orbit is 7.1 km/s.[2]
1986 DA reached perihelion in its orbit on March 6, 2005.
Asteroid 1986 DA achieved its most notable recognition when scientists revealed that it contained over "10,000 tons of gold and 100,000 tons of platinum", or an approximate value at the time of its discovery of "$90 billion for the gold and a cool trillion dollars for the platinum, plus loose change for the asteroid's 10 billion tons of iron and a billion tons of nickel."[3]
In 2012 the estimated value of 100,000 tons of platinum was worth approximately five trillion US dollars.
References
- Jump up ^ S. J. OSTRO, D. B. CAMPBELL, J. F. CHANDLER, A. A. HINE, R. S. HUDSON, K. D. ROSEMA, and I. I. SHAPIRO (7 June 1991). "Asteroid 1986 DA: Radar Evidence for a Metallic Composition". Science 252 (5011): 1399–1404. Bibcode:1991Sci...252.1399O. doi:10.1126/science.252.5011.1399. PMID 17772910.
- Jump up ^ "Delta-v for spacecraft rendezvous with all known near-Earth asteroids". NASA. 2006-06-01. Retrieved 2006-06-08.
- Jump up ^ staff, editorial (1991-06-08). "Gems In Space -- Undreamed Treasures In A Passing Nugget". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2009-04-05
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