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The “DART spacecraft” launched to change the asteroid’s orbit collides with the asteroid Dimorphos at 19:14 (local time) on the 26th. The Dart spacecraft was launched in November last year with a major mission to test whether it could change the orbit of an asteroid that could collide with Earth.
According to NASA, around 4 million asteroids and comets still collide with Earth every day. Most of them are small and burn close to Earth’s atmosphere, but some asteroids are classified as “Earth-threatening potential asteroids” and are being monitored. If even a small asteroid collides with Earth, many living things, including humans, can become extinct.
NASA’s Dart spacecraft crash test is the first human experiment to change the orbit of an asteroid that could threaten Earth in the future. The name of the project is short for “Double Asteroid Redirection Test”, which means that the speed and orbit of the two planets have changed.
The collision course of the dart will be recorded by the small satellite of the Italian space agency “Liciacube”. The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch the Hera spacecraft in 2024 to investigate changes in the mass and orbit of the Dimorphus satellite for the on-site investigation of the collision test of the Dart spacecraft.
Meanwhile, on the 8th, NASA released images of the Dimorphos and Didymos asteroids taken by the Dart spacecraft. Dimorphos is located about 10.8 million km from Earth and orbits the asteroid Didymos.
Dimorphus is relatively easy to correct in orbit due to its small size and distance from Earth. Also, even if he collides with a spacecraft incorrectly, Dimorphus is bound by Didymos’ gravity, so there is no chance of colliding with Earth, so he is safe. That’s why NASA targeted Dimorphus among so many asteroids.
The Dart spacecraft collision test is expected to be applied to change the orbit of asteroids that may collide with Earth in the future. Hopefully, the dart spacecraft will orbit as little as a few centimeters to get the technology to defend Earth.
Source = Media Bamboo
Disposition = Reporter Hyungi Kim [email protected]
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