Nasa tests Earth’s defence system against asteroids
Nasa has launched its first planetary defence test in an attempt to intentionally cause a spacecraft and an asteroid called Dimorphos to collide, pushing the asteroid off course.
CAPE TOWN, November 25 (ANA) – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) launched its first planetary defence test on Wednesday in an attempt to intentionally cause a spacecraft and an asteroid called Dimorphos to collide.
According to NASASpaceflight, an online publication that covers space flight and aerospace engineering, the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) spacecraft was launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is a demonstration mission as Nasa plans to steer it into the asteroid to determine the effects of such a mission.
The US-based agency said the test of this technology could one day save the planet and tip an oncoming asteroid off course. DART will also help them understand how difficult it would be to stop a much bigger space rock.
South China Morning Post reported on Thursday that it will be a 24,000km/h crash between a football-stadium-sized asteroid and a vending-machine-sized DART.
Nasa currently tracks nearly 27,500 asteroids which are not considered a threat; however, it said there remain many undetected asteroids.
Kelly Fast from Nasa’s Planetary Defence Co-ordination Office told the BBC that this is a huge step and that DART is planned to hit its target in around 10 days’ time.
“Dart will only be changing the period of the orbit of Dimorphos by a tiny amount,” said Fast. “And really that’s all that’s needed in the event that an asteroid is discovered well ahead of time.”
The spacecraft is equipped with a camera that will help point DART in the right direction and provide images of the asteroid.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher