Asteroid 2008 TC3 Streaks Over Africa

A small asteroid, designated 2008 TC3, entered the Earth's atmosphere early Tuesday and vaporized in a spectacular fireball over the African country of Sudan. 2008 TC3 was a small asteroid, measuring about three meters across.

2008 TC3 was discovered at the Mount Lemon Observatory run by the University of Arizona just this Monday. Scientists had predicted its impact with a near 100 percent certainty.

The entry of the asteroid was observed by the crew of a KLM airline. The airline was flying about 750 nautical miles southwest of where the asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere. The KLM crew observed the entry of 2008 TC3 as a brief flash in the sky. Scientists are excited at the event as it was the first time that the impact of an asteroid into the Earth's atmosphere was predicted in advance with such a degree of certainty.

Scientists and others are interested in Earth approaching asteroids for a number of reasons. A much larger version of 2008 TC3 is thought to have hit the Earth near where the Yucatan is today sixty million years ago and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. A similar event in the modern age might well render the human species extinct. Scientists are therefore very eager to find ways of detecting and tracking Earth approaching asteroids and then finding a way of diverting them if they posed a threat.

Asteroids also can contain materials that will make exploring and settling the high frontier of space easier and might even become a source of wealth for Earth bound humans. For example:

"To get an idea of just how much wealth is to be had from asteroids, one can examine 3554 Amun, a mile wide lump of iron, nickel, cobalt, platinum, and other metals that has an orbit closely resembling that of Earth's. Though it is one of the smallest known metallic asteroids, 3554 Amun contains thirty times as much metal as has ever been mined by human beings in the history of Earth. It's value, at current prices and if mined slowly to keep commodity prices level, is estimated to be 20 trillion dollars."

Other asteroids contain substances called "volatiles", including oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, that could help sustain human settlers in space. Space advocates envision mining operations on Earth approaching asteroids occurring as human beings venture out into space to live and work.

NASA is mulling over the idea of sending the Orion space craft, now under development for expeditions to the Moon and Mars, to an Earth approaching asteroid as well. Such an expedition would actually be easier to accomplish, in many ways, than journeys to the Moon or Mars. Such an expedition, traveling over several million miles and lasting up to three months, would be a good way to test the deep space capabilities of the Orion system while doing some good, exploration science.

Sources: Asteroid Reportedly Streaks over Africa, MSNBC, October 7th, 2008
Small Asteroid to Streak into Earth's Atmosphere Tonight, Space.Com, October 6th, 2008
Riches in the Sky: The Promise of Asteroid Mining, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, Novermber 15th, 2005
The First Great Deep Space Expedition: Sending the Orion to an Asteroid, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, November 29th, 2006