The operation is a test of the Earth’s defense system in case of a possible space object in the direction of the planet
A NASA spacecraft crashed this Monday at full speed against an asteroid to divert its trajectory in spacein what is the first test of humanity to defend the Earth from the collision of future space objects.
At 7:14 p.m. local time in the Eastern United States (23:14 GMT), the ship known as DART (dart in English) crashed at a speed of 6.4 kilometers per second against the surface of the asteroid Dimorphos, located about 11 million kilometers from Earth. Although the impact could be seen on NASA’s live broadcast, scientists will have to wait days or even weeks to see if the unmanned spacecraft has achieved slightly alter the asteroid’s orbit.
It is the first time in human history that an attempt has been made to change the trajectory of a celestial body, in an attempt to protect the Earth from meteorites similar to the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The ship that made the trip is known as DART, an acronym for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, it measures almost the same as a refrigerator or a food vending machine, and its construction has cost more than 330 million dollars.
For its part, the asteroid it crashed into is called Dimorphos (‘two forms’ in Greek). It is a space body of 160 kilometers in diameter similar to a moon and that revolves around another larger asteroid called Didymos, 780 meters in diameter and whose name means ‘twin’ in Greek. Together they form part of what is known as a double asteroid system and were selected by NASA because pose no threat to Earth.
NASA scientists believe that the DART impact on Dimorphos may have caused a crater and launched small rocky fragments into space. A small satellite developed by the Italian Space Agency followed the operation from a distance to take images of the impact and send them to scientists for evaluation in the coming hours or days.
Before the impact, NASA administrator Bill Nelson explained on Twitter the objective of the test and compared it to the science fiction movie ‘Armageddon’, where the character played by Bruce Willis is part of a mission to destroy an asteroid. dangerously close to Earth. The big difference between ‘Armageddon’ and NASA’s mission is that, in this case, the goal was to divert not destroy the meteoritesince a strong impact could end in disaster with hundreds of rocks falling on Earth.
NASA does not have any object on its radar that could pose a direct threat to Earth for the next 100 years, but it has decided to test its technology to be prepared.