(ORDO NEWS) — The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will crash into the asteroid Dimorph, which orbits the larger asteroid Didim.
Scientists say that none of the asteroids are moving towards Earth, but the collision of our planet with Dimorph, which is about 160 meters long, could cause significant damage.
Regardless of the outcome, the mission will give astronomers and scientists important clues about what the solution might be if a dangerous asteroid decides to hit Earth. Experts say that there is currently no threat to us.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where an asteroid is flying towards Earth. We need to know how the spacecraft will perform and how the asteroid will react to a collision before we get into a similar situation,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA planetary protection officer.
DART will end its 10-month journey in space on September 26th. Ten days before that, DART will launch a small observation satellite that will be able to film the collision.
NASA will broadcast the event on its website and social media.
The collision will occur approximately 11 million kilometers from Earth. Moving at 24,000 km/h, DART won’t destroy Dimorph, but it will push it slightly, allowing the asteroid’s orbit to change slightly. This will be enough to distract the asteroid from the Earth.
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