NASA to test Earth’s defense against cosmic threats

NASA will launch a spacecraft that will smash into an asteroid. This experiment is a test against cosmic threats that might crash with the Earth. The spacecraft will be launched onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on November 23.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission developed by NASA will include an asteroid that is not a danger to Earth.

The main aim of NASA for this mission is to assist and protect technology to safeguard the planet from the possibly disturbing effect of asteroids.

If the mission is successful it will help in securing technology that will be utilized against asteroids that are considered as a real threat to the planet.

“This asteroid system is a perfect testing ground to see if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future,” Nasa said.

“While no known asteroid larger than 140 metres 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.

“The binary near-Earth asteroid Didymos is the target for the Dart demonstration. While the Didymos primary body is approximately 780 metres across, its secondary body is about 160 metres in size, which is more typical of the size of asteroids that could pose the most likely significant threat to Earth.”

The traveling speed of the spacecraft will be 6.6 kilometres a second at the time of the crash into Dimorphos.