(ORDO NEWS) — Fortunately, this is just an experiment, and not a last-ditch attempt to save the Earth from a cataclysm.
As part of a first-of-its-kind mission on September 26, 2000, NASA is planning to ram a spacecraft into an asteroid, and you can watch the live feed.
Mankind’s first experiment to divert harmful asteroids away from our planet, a mission called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (or DART) is designed to change the flight path of the asteroid Dimorphos by about 1%.
Dimorphos is not in danger of colliding with Earth, but if a 520-foot space rock were heading towards us, something catastrophic would be waiting for us, so NASA is using it as a test case to reject a hypothetical future killer asteroid.
Where to watch a NASA spacecraft hit an asteroid
The space rock impact is about seven million miles from Earth, but NASA sent a camera down there to capture the whole thing.
The space agency plans to broadcast the culmination of the mission on NASA’s official website, Facebook page, Twitter and YouTube channel.
When will the NASA spacecraft crash into Dimophos?
The DART mission began almost a year ago and the crash landing will take place on September 26 at 7:14 pm ET. The live stream of the event will begin at 6 p.m. ET.
What’s the point of crashing a ship into an asteroid?
Space rocks regularly fall to Earth, but most of them burn up in the atmosphere, and most of these rocks are too small to cause serious damage.
But if a large enough asteroid rushed towards us, it would be a disaster for all life on the planet. Dinosaurs were likely wiped out by such an asteroid that hit Earth about 66 million years ago, so NASA is taking the first steps to prevent a similar catastrophe from befalling humans.
No one is really sure if a spacecraft is strong enough to deflect an asteroid, but the science gathered by NASA should help with future space disaster scenarios (even if it’s clear there’s nothing we can do about it).
Should we be worried about being destroyed by an asteroid?
Whether we should be worried about a space rock hitting the ground depends on your point of view. There are over 27,000 objects in the solar system.
As far as we know, none of them pose a threat to our planet, but we also know that millions of meteorites bombard the Earth every day, although most of them are too small to pass through the atmosphere without burning up. In the end, we may not be lucky.
It is not known how much time will pass until a dangerous meteorite falls to Earth again. It could happen in 10 million years, or even next month. This is a kind of space lottery.
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