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What if you were told that an asteroid was heading straight for Earth? If this scenario is only fictitious, NASA has already found the solution to divert the trajectory of an asteroid. This planetary defense mission should be tested within a year.
The fall of an asteroid on Earth is only a distant and fictitious hypothesis. Yet NASA is already preparing to avoid it. “We don’t want to find ourselves in a position where an asteroid is heading towards Earth, and where we have to test this technique in real time.”, Explain Lindley Johnson of NASA’s Department of Planetary Defense.
The baptized mission DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), targets two asteroids: one with a diameter equivalent to twice the height of the Eiffel Tower, and a second smaller. To thwart the trajectory of the most small asteroid, a machine of 550 kilos will be propelled in order to strike it voluntarily on the surface. “The main part of the dart is a hundred times smaller than the asteroid. It’s not going to destroy it, it’s just going to give it a little kick “, assures Nancy Chabot, director of mission coordination DART.
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