China News Service, November 24. Comprehensive foreign media reported on the 24th that recently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) used the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch a spacecraft from the Vandenberg space launch site in California. In order to protect the earth from other celestial bodies through impact testing.
According to US media, this will be the first attempt by mankind to defend against planetary threats, and it will also be the first comprehensive demonstration of NASA's planetary defense technology.
Image source: NASA social media screenshot.
According to reports, the mission is called "Dual Asteroid Redirection Test" (DART).
The spacecraft will fly to the asteroid Dimorphos with a diameter of approximately 150 meters, which is orbiting the asteroid Didymos, which is larger than itself.
Dimorphos currently poses no threat to the planet.
NASA said the mission goal is to deliberately hit Dimorphos to change the asteroid's motion in space.
The collision will be recorded by a cubic satellite LICIACube provided by the Italian Space Agency.
US media said that now is the "best time" to perform the "dual asteroid redirection test."
In September 2022, Didymos and Dimorphos are expected to be relatively close to Earth, within 6,835,083 miles (11 million kilometers).
Nancy Chabot, the coordinator of the "Double Asteroid Redirection Test," said that the spacecraft will head towards the target Dimorphos at a speed of approximately 15,000 miles (24,140 kilometers) per hour to change its trajectory.
NASA scientist Tom Statler said in a statement that astronomers will use astronomical telescopes to compare observations before and after the impact to determine the changes in the orbital period of Dimorphos. "This key measurement will tell us. , How did the asteroid react to our deflection test."