The first mission to test planetary defence is being prepared by NASA experts, and they want you to watch.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) by the space agency will test technologies to protect Earth from incoming asteroids and comets by purposefully colliding with an asteroid that doesn’t pose a danger to the planet at a speed of around 15,000 mph.
The target, called Dimorphos, is a moonlet of a bigger asteroid that is roughly 525 feet across.
The intention of the test is to demonstrate that a spacecraft is capable of autonomously navigating to an asteroid and deliberately colliding with it in order to cause it to disintegrate upon impact and alter its speed and course.
Astronomers want to use telescopes on Earth to measure that change.
Since the mission’s goal is to divert the asteroid rather than entirely destroy it, it doesn’t exactly resemble a sci-fi disaster film like “Armageddon.”
On September 26, NASA intends to webcast the whole event live, and it’s asking people to watch on its website, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
On “Impact Day,” a live briefing will be held from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, which creates and oversees the DART satellite, at 6 p.m. ET.
The kinetic impact is anticipated to occur around 7:14 p.m. ET. The space agency will also hold a live event to commemorate the historic occasion.
The modest $330 million spacecraft was launched by scientists last October and will journey almost seven million kilometres beyond Earth.
It is carrying a second tiny spacecraft named LICIACube, which will be launched from DART ten days before to impact in an effort to capture images of the crash and the accompanying debris.
Approximately 25,000 near-Earth asteroids that are 500 feet or bigger are now thought to exist, according to astronomers.
If an asteroid is ever discovered, DART will hopefully provide vital information to help scientists prepare for one that may have a disastrous effect on our planet.
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