A NASA spacecraft will voluntarily crash into an asteroid to divert its trajectory on a "planetary defense" mission.

• Science The first cinematic space expedition returns to Earth

• Science The Sun releases its most powerful flare of the current cycle

In just under a year, a NASA spacecraft

with the goal of deflecting its trajectory.

It is a mission classified as "planetary defense".

The setting is reminiscent of the movie 'Armageddon', in which

save the planet from a huge asteroid hurtling towards Earth.

However, although it seems science fiction, it will be a real experience that the space agency already prepares.

Although there are no large asteroids yet known to have a collision path with Earth, they are already preparing for this possible eventuality.

"We do not want to find ourselves with the situation that an asteroid is heading towards Earth and it is at that moment when we have to test this technique for the first time," Lindley Johnson, from the Department of Planetary Defense, assured at a NASA conference.

The mission, dubbed DART, will take off from California aboard

.

Ten months later, the ship will hit its target.

In reality, the objective is twofold: first, a large asteroid, Didymos, which measures 780 meters in diameter, twice the height of the Eiffel Tower.

And, orbiting it, a moon, Dimorphos, 160 meters in diameter, taller than the Statue of Liberty.

It is on this moon that the ship, which is about 100 times smaller than it, will end its journey.

But, "this will not destroy the asteroid, it will only give it a small blow," according to Nancy Chabot, from the Johns Hopkins University applied physics laboratory, which is leading the mission.

Therefore, the orbit of the small asteroid around the big one will be reduced only "about 1%".

In this way, "if one day an asteroid is discovered on a collision course with Earth (...) we will have an idea of ​​how much force we will need so that this asteroid does not reach Earth", explains Andy Cheng, also from the same University.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• science

• POT

ScienceThe Sun releases its most powerful flare of the current cycle

Cumbre ViejaVolcán on La Palma, last minute live |

A new mouth opens to the southeast of the volcanic cone that emits ash and pyroclasts

The drone rescue of four hounds trapped in Todoque collides with the Administration: "They tell us it is not a priority"

See links of interest

• The Palm

• Last News

• What

• Holidays 2021

• 2022 business calendar

• Master Investigation Journalism

• Christmas Lottery 2021

• Loteria del Niño 2022

• Brøndby IF - Rangers

• Galatasaray - Lokomotiv Moscow

• KRC Genk - West Ham United

• Legia Warsaw - Napoli

• Lyon - Sparta Prague