NASA tries to deflect an asteroid by crashing into it with a spaceship

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NASA has decided to conduct a unique experiment that should test the strategy of the world’s first planetary defense system. Experts want to see if the spacecraft’s impact with the asteroid is enough to send it off the collision course with our planet. The information was brought by the Reuters agency.

“We are constantly scanning the sky for potential new asteroids and threats … so this test will help us make sure we have a mitigation strategy in place should such a threat ever be identified,” said the Double Asteroid Redirection program. Test (DART) Director Andrea Riley.

Last November, for this purpose, a probe was launched from California, which scientists pointed to the moon Dimorphos, comparable in size to a football stadium.

The mission will test the spacecraft’s ability to change the trajectory of an asteroid using purely kinetic energy through a high-speed impact. Scientists will investigate whether such a pulse would be enough to send a potential asteroid off course.

NASA prepares to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to demonstrate the world’s first planetary defense system pic.twitter.com/CpwYrxi7nS

– Reuters (@Reuters) September 15, 2022

Dimorphos poses no real threat to Earth and is quite small, especially compared to the asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. But head of DART coordination Nancy Chabot says smaller asteroids are more common and theoretically pose a bigger problem. That’s why Dimorphos is such a perfect target for this first planetary defense test mission.

Cameras placed directly on the spacecraft will monitor everything that happens, up to a second and a half before impact, said system engineer Elena Adams. So we will be able to see the impact in real time. The grand finale of the mission will take place on September 26th.

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