NASA to test Earth’s defences through rocket and asteroid collision

NASA will put Earth’s defence systems to the test later this year when it launches an asteroid redirection test, the first of its kind.

The upcoming mission might be reminiscent of a sci-fi disaster movie but the reality of the situation is not as dire.

NASA are wanting to conduct a “Double Asteroid Redirection Test” or (DART), which will be the first time the agencies have used this kinetic impactor technique. The mission is set to begin on November 24.

The mission involves a large, high-speed spacecraft that is sent into an asteroid to change its “orbital speed” and to alter its trajectory.

The spacecraft will crash into the moonlet at roughly 6.5 kilometers per second, faster than a bullet and quick enough to alter the path of the asteroid by a fraction of 1%, NASA says.

The #DARTmission is @NASA’s first #PlanetaryDefense test mission and will impact an asteroid to demonstrate a technique that could be used in the future to protect Earth from a potential impact. #CountdownToLaunch on November 24! Learn more: https://t.co/nPcmHQsAoy pic.twitter.com/jugmhm3UFS

— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) September 10, 2021

Though it may seem like a very insignificant change, it’s enough to alter the orbital pattern of the moonlet.

DART will be launched using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, but it has a long journey before it actually reaches its target – approximately 10 months before the rocket is expected to make contact.

NASA has said that the missile will be in space until late next year when the Didymos system passes within 11 million kilometers of Earth.

The technology was created to protect the earth from an asteroid that is large enough to pose risk to our planet. Normally asteroids are small and burn up in the earth’s atmosphere or miss us entirely.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by NASA (@nasa)

However, it is possible that an asteroid large enough to do harm could, at some point in the future, become a threat to humanity.

The last large-scale asteroid strike was the one that killed the dinosaurs so it’s real people – or at least NASA thinks so.