(163249) 2002 GT

(163249) 2002 GT
Discovery
Discovered by Spacewatch
Discovery date 3 April 2002
Designations
MPC designation (163249) 2002 GT
Apollo
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 5114 days (14.00 yr)
Aphelion 1.7945 AU (268.45 Gm) (Q)
Perihelion 0.89422 AU (133.773 Gm) (q)
1.3444 AU (201.12 Gm) (a)
Eccentricity 0.33483 (e)
1.56 yr (569.33 d)
196.65° (M)
 37m 56.352s / day (n)
Inclination 6.9681° (i)
201.76° (Ω)
135.09° (ω)
Earth MOID 0.0161099 AU (2.41001 Gm)
Jupiter MOID 3.59544 AU (537.870 Gm)
Physical characteristics
3.7663 h (0.15693 d)
18.4[1]

    (163249) 2002 GT is an Apollo asteroid with an absolute magnitude of 18.26.[1] It is a potentially hazardous asteroid as its orbit crosses that of Earth.[2]

    In 2011, NASA considered sending the unmanned spacecraft Deep Impact toward the asteroid with the aim of performing a flyby[2] in 2020. It was uncertain whether Deep Impact carried sufficient fuel for this operation.[2]

    On November 24, 2011 and October 4, 2012, the space probe's thrusters were fired briefly for two trajectory correction maneuvers that targeted Deep Impact for an encounter with 2002 GT in 2020, possibly within a distance of no more than 400 kilometers. However, funding for the flyby mission was not guaranteed.[3] In June 2013 the asteroid was observed in radar by the Arecibo Observatory.[4]

    However, on August 8, 2013 NASA lost communication with the spacecraft, and on September 20, 2013, NASA abandoned further attempts to contact the craft.[5] According to A'Hearn,[6] the most probable reason of software malfunction was a Y2K-like problem (at 11 August 2013 0:38:49 it was 232 deciseconds from 1 January 2000[7]).

    References

    External links


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