All articles tagged with #close approaches
Eight near-Earth asteroids have narrowly missed Earth in recent years, with distances from about 230 km (2025 UC11) to 9,900 km (2017 GM), including 2018 UA, 2019 UN13, 2020 VT4, 2021 UA1, 2022 FD1, and 2023 BU; the piece also notes a 2026 pass at 2.6 million km and a projected 2029 Apophis flyby at ~32,000 km, all in the context of historic events like Tunguska in 1908.
A Chinese study published in the journal Infrared and Laser Engineering has highlighted the close approaches made by U.S. Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites to Chinese spacecraft in the geostationary belt, describing them as threats. The study identified 14 potential close approaches in 2020 and 2021, with one incident being as close as 9.54 kilometers. The researchers simulated imagery to demonstrate the potential for high-resolution imaging of targeted space objects. The study concludes that these close approaches pose a serious threat to China's high-value assets in GEO. The issue of uncoordinated close approaches in GEO has generated shared concern among countries, but there have been no proposals yet on how to address these threats.