Minimoons are celestial bodies that orbit a planet or natural satellite and are notable for their small size. They usually consist of asteroids or comets and their diameters do not exceed 1 kilometer. If they are in orbit of the parent celestial body, they cannot stay for a long time. After a few months or years, they leave orbit and return to space. Minimoons can provide important information about the formation and evolution of planets and their moons. They can also help us understand how asteroids and comets move through the Solar System.
Now some scientists want to use these small satellites to carry humanity deeper into the cosmos.
MINIMOONS UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
According to Live Science, these minimoons deserve to be examined closely scientifically due to their proximity to the Earth. Recently, some experts have focused on minimoons and other near-Earth asteroids as they have the potential to be stepping stones in our exploration of the cosmos. took it under.
“We have not yet become an interplanetary species,” Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a statement. “Minimoons could become milestones as we learn how humans can operate in interplanetary space and eventually reach Mars.” said.
In September 2016, NASA launched the uncrewed OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to collect a sample from the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu, which has a 1 in 2,700 chance of hitting Earth in 2182. OSIRIS REx returned to Earth 7 years later with a small piece of the 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid.
“STEPTING STONE FOR MISSIONS TO MARS”
The success of the OSIRIS-ReX mission has inspired scientists planning the next phases of near-Earth exploration. Binzel stated that one idea is to use nearby asteroids as stepping stones for missions to Mars.
Binzel noted that bringing back Bennu is a step in the right direction, but it may be a better goal when it comes to testing our technology to extend it into the cosmos. Minimoons are some of the easiest asteroids to reach from Earth, Binzel said.
Experts state that it is too early to say whether minimoon missions will play an important role in spacecraft technology or mining activities. But regardless, studying these temporary guests and other near-Earth asteroids could provide important clues about the mysteries of our solar system, Binzel said. Many scientists think that near-Earth asteroids like Bennu may have brought the seeds of life to Earth early in our planet’s history.
Binzel said minimoons are a great place to go to trace the chemical origins of the solar system and find the ingredients that make up life on Earth.
“But the reason we haven’t been to them before is because there aren’t that many of them. We’re just discovering them. But they will come to the fore because our new telescopes are coming online,” Binzel said. he said.
