Introduction: What is NASA’s plan?
In September, NASA announced its plans to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid. The mission aims to learn more about how to protect Earth from asteroids. In our article, you’ll find out about this mission, why they are doing it, the risks associated with the task, and our thoughts on this test.
As you read our article please try not to just start blasting Aerosmith as loud as possible.. because we definitely aren’t checking out the OG trailer which is kind of the whole worlds idea when we think of asteroids… earth… and smashing them up to save the day:
And if this doesn’t excite you , you can always go check out when Walmart got busted selling garbage hard drives, which they are trying to sweep under the rug. A good and funny read if we must say so ourselves.
What is the plan that NASA has to crash into an asteroid?
In September, NASA will crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to deflect it from its crashing course with Earth. The U.S. space agency plans to use a massive spacecraft, called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), to hit the asteroid known as Didymos, and change its orbit. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?…. we will get to that later actually….
The DART will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 4. It will travel for about two years before reaching Didymos, which orbits the sun every 1.3 years and is currently about 11 million miles (17.7 million kilometers) from Earth.
When it gets close enough, the DART will slam into Didymos’ smaller satellite at a speed of about 3 miles per second (4,800 kilometers per second). They will also deploy some cameras and sensors to record and report what happens because they probably won’t be able to after they smash into the metro.
Why are they attacking this innocent rock?
Every day, Earth is bombarded with more than 100 tons of dust and sand-sized particles. Most of it burns up in our atmosphere, but occasionally a meteor will make it through.
In September, NASA will deliberately crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to study its makeup. The asteroid, called Didymos, is about 525 feet wide and contains two smaller objects orbiting around it.
NASA hopes that by studying the crater left behind by the impact, they will learn more about how asteroids are formed and how to defend our planet from them in the future. So we are basically picking on a rock, that is minding its own business and leaving us alone.. just in case one day its brother or sister comes looking for a tussle… sounds good!
The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission is set to launch later this year and will take place over two years. Hopefully another rock doesn’t come after us before we figure out if this plan will work or not.
When is the planned collision going to happen?
In September, NASA will deliberately crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to learn more about how to protect Earth from future collisions. The agency has selected a 525-foot-wide asteroid as the target for the impactor, which ship will launch from Earth on a trajectory that will intercept the space rock.
What are the risks of crashing into an asteroid?
There aren’t any risks with this experiment other than it fails and shows we can’t nudge the asteroid in any meaningful way, which leaves us at square one if an asteroid was ever heading to the world again.
Because they are targeting an asteroid that has no chance of impacting Earth, I am guessing they have already calculated every outcome because if somehow they nudged it in a way that now made it head towards Earth, that would be BAD. But I am guessing there is no chance of that.
The only other thing that could be a risk is the same as every other mission. The spaceship might not make it, and they might not take off on time; they also might not get the data they need. But those aren’t risks that any other mission wouldn’t have. And if you count the fact that Bruce Willis won’t be on the ship to save the day, if something does go wrong we aren’t sure who is going to fix it?
Conclusion
The impacts of asteroids can range from causing localized damage to an area on Earth to triggering global catastrophes. In recent years there have been several close calls, including one instance where an asteroid narrowly missed hitting Earth, but it was still a decent ways away, so there isn’t anything to worry about.
NASA is going to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in September. The DART spacecraft will hit the asteroid’s surface at about 3.7 miles per second, or about 13,000 miles per hour. This will be the first time that NASA has attempted to change the course of an asteroid deliberately.
The truth of this is good because it means that people are being proactive about things that could potentially end the world and human civilization. We think that something along these lines happened to the dinosaurs, so if we can try out things that might save us without risk, I guess why not? Although we don’t usually care what Nasa does, we do care about Bruce Willis and his legacy. So we really hope this works.
In September, NASA will crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to study its composition. The asteroid, which is 525 feet wide, will be hit by a small probe traveling approximately 13,000 miles per hour. Scientists are interested in learning more about the asteroid’s makeup to understand our solar system’s formation better. This experiment will also help researchers develop new methods for deflecting asteroids that could impact Earth.
