NASA has revealed plans to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid next week to test our defenses against potentially world-ending asteroids.
To assess NASA’s current defenses, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was set for 2021 and is scheduled to occur next week.
DART will see a small spacecraft target an asteroid not currently on its way to Earth in an attempt to test our ability to evade an Armageddon event.
The spacecraft will be sent to the asteroid called Dimorphos at approximately four miles per second and is expected to take the asteroid out of orbit.
Why does NASA crash a spacecraft into an asteroid? Listen to the latest episode of The Science Briefing below:
Experts believe the test will help us design a contingency plan in the unlikely event of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
The asteroid in question is not believed to be a threat to Earth and is about 20 million miles away.
Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmo magazine science reporter Matthew Agius, who explains exactly what to expect when the spacecraft hits the asteroid.
“This is an asteroid the size of a football field, about 160 meters in diameter,” he said.
“Dimorphos, however, is just a baby in asteroid terms. It orbits a 780-meter-wide parent asteroid called Didymos.
“There are two goals with this project … the question is whether we can actually hit a small distant object with a very fast moving spacecraft and the second goal is to see how Dimorphos actually responds to impact.”
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