![]() ![]() Teams recently named the space rock Dimorphos, which is Greek for “having two forms”-one before the impact, and one after. But no one had ever gotten a good look at its tiny moonlet until just before DART smashed into it. As it approached, the spacecraft furiously snapped images of Dimorphos, which rapidly grew from a pinprick of light to fill its field of view-until the moment of impact, when everything went dark.ĭimorphos orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, and the two asteroids are not considered threats to Earth-which is one of the reasons NASA put them in the DART spacecraft’s crosshairs for this first planetary defense test.ĭiscovered in 1996, Didymos, which means “twin” in Greek, is roughly a half-mile across and relatively well studied. To practice shaping that reality, NASA sent DART hurtling toward its demise. “This is just the first step, but isn’t it exciting that we’re going from science fiction to science reality?” “I don’t really lose sleep about the Earth getting destroyed by asteroids, but I am excited about living in a world where we might be able to potentially prevent this in the future,” says Nancy Chabot of Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, which manages the DART mission. ![]() ![]() And eventually, whether in hundreds or thousands or millions of years, it is all but certain that life on Earth will face an existential threat from an asteroid. While scientists are confident that a large enough asteroid to cause planet-wide extinction will not threaten Earth for at least a hundred years-after which time it is difficult to predict their orbits-it is still possible that we could be surprised by a smaller, potentially city-destroying rock from space. It's also the first test of a bold strategy that could be used to deflect any future asteroids that are on a collision course with Earth. ET, marks the first time humans have intentionally changed the course of a celestial object. The collision between NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft and a 500-foot-wide rock called Dimorphos, which took place at 7:14 p.m. If time allows, the best tactic could be to nudge the menacing asteroid out of our way, like DART.Laurel, MarylandNearly seven million miles from Earth, a spacecraft traveling more than 14,000 miles an hour smashed into a small, unsuspecting asteroid that had been floating through space undisturbed for eons. Not by blowing up an asteroid as Willis’ character did - that would be a last, last-minute resort - or by begging government leaders to take action as DiCaprio’s character did in vain. ![]() “These threats are real, and what makes this time special, is we can do something about it,” Zurbuchen said. Fewer than half of the 140-metre objects have been confirmed, with millions of smaller but still-dangerous objects zooming around. What’s worrisome, though, are the unknown threats. The good news is that the coast seems clear for the next century, with no known threats. Hollywood has churned out dozens of killer-space-rock movies over the decades, including 1998′s “Armageddon” which brought Bruce Willis to Cape Canaveral for filming, and last year's “Don’t Look Up” with Leonardo DiCaprio leading an all-star cast. Jupiter and its moons like never seen before: NASA unveils new images from the James Webb Telescope.One asteroid mission is grounded while an independent review board weighs its future. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft should have launched this year to a metal-rich asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, but the team couldn’t test the flight software in time. In the next few years, NASA also plans to launch a census-taking telescope to identify hard-to-find asteroids that could pose risks. NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, meanwhile, is headed to asteroids near Jupiter, after launching last year.Īnother spacecraft, Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, is loaded into NASA’s new moon rocket awaiting liftoff it will use a solar sail to fly past a space rock that’s less than 18 metres next year. China hopes to follow suit with a mission launching in 2025. Japan was the first to retrieve asteroid samples, accomplishing the feat twice. NASA has close to 450 g of rubble collected from asteroid Bennu headed to Earth. Planet Earth is on an asteroid-chasing roll. Worried about space junk and space tourism: New study shows 97% of people see space as a threat. ![]()
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