While a lot of scientists and even ordinary people are terrified at the thought of a giant asteroid approaching our planet one day, NASA scientists seem to have been thinking outside the box. As weird as it may sound, the space agency’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission implies simply smashing a spacecraft into an asteroid to change its trajectory.
As in the case of any other scientific idea (although there’s actually not too much science involved when it comes to colliding a spacecraft with an asteroid), DART needed to be put to the test. NASA did just that by hitting the Dimorphos asteroid, a small space rock orbiting a much bigger asteroid known as Didymos.
NASA’s DART Mission successfully hits Dimorphos
According to CNN, NASA’s DART mission to collide with the Dimorphos asteroid achieved its goal, at least partially. While the collision itself was successful, you know that old phrase that says not to count your chickens before they hatch. Astronomers still need a few months to wait to know for sure if the asteroid’s trajectory has been altered or not.
Lori Glaze, who’s director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, explained, as CNN quotes:
We’re embarking on a new era of humankind, an era in which we potentially have the capability to protect ourselves from something like a dangerous, hazardous asteroid impact,
What an amazing thing. We’ve never had that capability before.
At this point, the Dimorphos asteroid is not on a collision course with Earth. No other asteroid that could pose a major threat falls into that category, either. This means that we’re pretty much safe, as far as scientists know.
It’s great to see that NASA comes up with new ideas when it comes to asteroids. The Universe itself also never hesitates to amaze us, and even in negative ways, unfortunately.
