Anicet Mbida 06:52, October 14, 2022

Anicet Mbida delivers to us every morning what is best in terms of innovation.

This Friday, he returns to NASA's test to deflect the trajectory of an asteroid.

A kamikaze satellite was sent almost a year ago before hitting the targeted asteroid on the night of September 26.

A fortnight ago, we were treated to the remake of the film "Armageddon".

Like Bruce Willis, NASA attempted to deflect an asteroid.

The impact analyzes are finally in.

Did it work or not?

Yes, it worked!

The dinosaurs would have been jealous.

It has just been proven that it is possible to modify the trajectory of an asteroid in the event that it is heading towards the earth.

I quickly remember what happened.

A kamikaze satellite was sent almost a year ago.

It has traveled 11 million kilometres.

And on the night of September 26, it hit its target head-on: an asteroid that presented no danger.

It was just a test to make sure it's possible.

Since the impact, telescopes around the world have been dissecting the trajectory of the asteroid to verify that it has indeed been deflected.

And if so, by how much.

So what ?

It was deviated from much?

Yes, about ten meters.

Which is much more than expected.

Even a deviation of a few centimeters would have been a success.

You should know that a deviation of a few millimeters over millions of kilometers can already be more than enough for a potentially dangerous asteroid to end up avoiding the earth.

Obviously, this means acting early enough, when the danger is still far away.

Hence the current emphasis on monitoring everything that swarms around our planet.

More than 30,000 celestial objects are now referenced and cataloged.

And their trajectory is being watched very closely.

Are there any potential risks?

No, none in the next 30 years.

The one we watch the most is a large rock 700 meters in diameter.

So more than enough to destroy a country if it hit the ground.

But the risk of collision is minimal.

And if that happened, it wouldn't be before 2056. So that still leaves a little time to perfect our defense techniques.

We have walked on the moon, sent rovers to Mars… We are now entering the era of humanitarian space missions, those which could protect the earth and prevent us from experiencing the same fate as the dinosaurs.