Asteroid the size of Eiffel Tower heading for Earth in December

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Dubbed 4660 Nereus, or 1982 DB, this vaguely egg-shaped asteroid has a size of approximately 330 meters. But while considered potentially hazardous, it also has potential for exploration.

A large asteroid approximately 330 meters long is heading for Earth in early December, according to NASA’s asteroid tracker.

Dubbed 4660 Nereus, or 1982 DB, this vaguely egg-shaped asteroid has a size making it taller than the Eiffel Tower and nearly twice as tall as the Washington Monument. It is set to pass by the planet on December 11 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers and at a speed of 6.578 km/s. 

For comparison, the distance between the Earth and the Moon is about a thousandth of that – around 385,000 km. As such, despite being classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) due to its size and close proximity to Earth, it seems unlikely to pose a threat to the planet.

This is fortunate, as an impact from an asteroid of such a size could be devastating.

But what makes Nereus stand out among other asteroids is not its size or the possibility of it causing a planetary impact, but rather its potential for exploration.

As an Apollo-class asteroid, Nereus’s orbit frequently puts it close to Earth. In fact, its orbital resonance is approximately 2:1, meaning that it orbits almost twice for every orbit of the Earth. This makes a mission to explore the asteroid very feasible.

Scientists have given a hypothetical exploration mission on Nereus a delta-v (a measure of various values and factors determining how difficult it would be to properly maneuver a spacecraft during takeoff and/or landing) of approximately 5 km/s. This is significant, as the delta-v for the Moon is around 6 km/s. In fact, in 2000, NASA ranked Nereus as one of the lowest delta-v values out of near-Earth objects…