Earth Planetary Defence: NASA unveils asteroid-targeting spaceship
Friday, November 5, 2021 | Chimniii Desk
Key Highlights
- NASA announced the launch of a spacecraft that would serve as Earth's 'planetary defence' against asteroids.
- The US space agency will launch the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
- "The spacecraft weighs 1,210 pounds and travels at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour, rerouting asteroids.
- DART will target the twin asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos, which orbit the Earth at a distance of around 6.8 million miles.
- NASA has catalogued about 27,000 near-Earth asteroids.
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NASA announced the launch of a spacecraft that would serve as Earth's 'planetary defence' against asteroids.
The US space agency will launch the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
According to Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defense Officer, "While there is no known asteroid on a collision course with the Earth at the moment, we do know that a sizable population of near-Earth asteroids exists."
"The key to planetary defence is identifying them well in advance of their becoming an impact threat," Johnson explained.
"We don't want to find ourselves in a position where an asteroid is heading straight for Earth and we're forced to put this skill to the test."
The spacecraft weighs 1,210 pounds and travels at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour, rerouting asteroids.
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DART will target the twin asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos, which orbit the Earth at a distance of around 6.8 million miles.
"We want to be as close to the target as possible in order to induce the greatest deflection," said Nancy Chabot of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which designed the DART satellite.
The amount of deflection will be dependent on the composition of Dimorphos, and scientists are unsure about the asteroid's porosity.
The project will boost modelling and prediction capabilities to enable scientists better prepare for a real asteroid hazard should one ever be detected.
NASA has catalogued about 27,000 near-Earth asteroids.
Bennu, a 1,650-foot-wide asteroid found in 1999, will pass near half the distance between the Earth and the Moon in the year 2135, but the probability of an impact is deemed extremely remote.
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