What Is NASA's Asteroid Hunting Satellite?

the Asteroid Hunting Satellites are like those heroes in movies battling aliens and such, except instead of warding off extraterrestrial invasions they actually protect us from asteroids. Before we dive into the machinery, I’ll divulge deeper into why we should be checking out for asteroids in the first place.. Asteroids, what are they? These are small, rocky objects that orbit the sun. Similar to planets but smaller. These outer space rocks are actually left overs from the formation of our solar system. Picture this, a sculptor molding a new sculpture and the higher his progress the more bits fall to the ground. I guess God or whoever made the universe was also sculpting planets and in doing so, they left asteroids. A little fun fact, the differences between asteroids, meteors and meteorites are that asteroids are always found in space, once it enters the atmosphere it becomes a meteor and then after it hits the ground it’s called a meteorite. Essentially, they are the same but the difference is when they are being observed. So, what the news reports to be space debris are actually meteorites but they were once asteroids floating around in space too. According to the Planetary Science Institute, 500 estimated meteorites reach the surface of the Earth each year but only less than 10 are recovered. That’s a lot of falling space rocks, but why aren’t all of them covered you ask? Well, that’s because most fall into bodies of water like oceans, seas or lakes as well as land in remote areas of the Earth. Now you may ask, “so aren’t asteroids ultimately harmless?” Sorry to say, but that isn’t completely true because despite their size they can be dangerous. Many have actually hit Earth with human life in the past and they’ve all come with such a bang.

[markhonea]

Is this for first graders ? Unbelievable.