Word: asteroidal
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...reach the solar system's largest planet, a flight that could take two years or more. Pioneer F will have to survive a hazard never before encountered by a spacecraft: it will have to pass through the asteroid belt, which consists of some 50,000 asteroids that circle the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. If Pioneer runs the rocky gauntlet successfully, the way will be cleared for further explorations of the outer planets by unmanned spacecraft making Grand Tours* later in the decade, as well as future flights by man himself. A serious accident...
...undertake such an adventure in the near future, there is little time to lose. In 1975, Alfvèn and Arrhenius note, an asteroid that seems almost ideal for exploration will come within 14 million miles of earth. It is 15 miles long and five miles wide, and will be traveling only 5,600 m.p.h. relative to the earth. That asteroid is Buck Rogers' favorite: Eros...
...found a mechanism that can move an asteroid from the asteroid belt into an earth-crossing orbit in such a short time. The only way would be a truly catastrophic event, and we would see shock effects in the meteorite if such an event occurred," McCrosky added...
...second time in the history of astronomy, the orbit of a meteorite has been calculated to extend out to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter...
...first glance, McCrosky's orbital calculations would seem to support the theory that many meteors originated in the asteroid belt, a jumble of orbiting planetary material just this side of Jupiter...