Bermuda Post

Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

What you need to know about NASA’s dry run to save us from armageddon

NASA is launching a spacecraft the size of a golf cart to crash into an asteroid, which could tell us what to do if one ever did hit Earth.

NASA is launching an extraordinary mission on Wednesday to knock an asteroid slightly off course.

While it may sound like the plot to a science fiction film that ends in tragedy, this first real-world experiment is safe, scientists say.

A spacecraft the size of a golf cart will blast off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday at 10.20 pm PST (Wednesday 7 am CET) before travelling 10 months on a collision course with an asteroid.

Here is all you need to know about the mission, which is called DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test).

Why do we need to knock into an asteroid?


The asteroid that will be knocked off course is six million miles away and is no threat to Earth now, scientists say, adding that the DART mission will not make it a danger either.

"First and foremost, these asteroids are not a threat to the Earth, They are no danger to earth,” said Nancy Chabot, DART coordination lead, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

“They are not on a path to hit the Earth in the foreseeable future. That makes them an appropriate target for a first test. But what really makes these asteroids ideal for this first test, it's because it's a double asteroid system," she said at a press conference.


While the asteroid and mission pose no threat to the planet, scientists want to see how its direction changes after being hit, so that if one day an asteroid is heading our way we may know what to do to avert disaster.

"The DART mission is about demonstrating deflection of an asteroid, changing its course, and doing it by hitting it with a spacecraft,” said Andy Cheng, DART investigation team lead, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory during a press conference.

“So the DART spacecraft has to hit the asteroid, then DART has to measure the amount of deflection and then we want to understand why that deflection came about, how it works. So, it's all about measuring the momentum transfer," he added.

Scientists say this could help in the future.


What will happen on the mission?


A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry DART into space, which will head to the asteroid Didymos, which circles the sun just outside of Earth's orbital path.

DART will spend about 10 months travelling towards the asteroid. But DART will crash into Didymos’s smaller asteroid called Dimophos at a speed of approximately 6.6 km/s.

In short, the spacecraft will aim for the larger asteroid to orient itself and in the final hour will detect and switch course towards the smaller one.

Researchers will then be able to measure changes in the orbital relationship between Dimorphos and Didymos, which will help them to calculate how this tactic could divert an asteroid from hitting Earth.

Could an asteroid hit Earth one day?


NASA has tracked almost all of the asteroids that could be large enough to damage Earth. But while there are no big asteroids heading our way in the foreseeable future that could change life as we know it, there are smaller ones that have yet to be found that have the potential to wipe out a city.

The DART mission could help prevent that.


"If one day an asteroid is discovered on a collision course with Earth - and we have an idea of how big that asteroid is, and how fast it's coming, and when it would hit, that kind of information - then we will have an idea how much momentum we need to make that asteroid miss the Earth," Cheng said.

NASA says while no known asteroid larger than 140 m in size has a significant chance to hit Earth for the next 100 years, only about 40 percent of those asteroids have been found as of October 2021.

What happens after the mission?


In 2024, the European Space Agency is expected to launch another mission to travel to the two asteroids and will observe the crater on Dimorphos and determine the mass of the asteroid.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Bermuda Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
'I just lost it' Lowe’s worker fired after 13 years of employment for confronting thieves trying to steal $2K of merchandise
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
×