NASA’s experiment is called the “Double Asteroid Redirect Test” or DART for short. The spacecraft intended for this was launched in California in late November. At about 23,000 kilometers per hour, the asteroid is expected to impact the moon Dimorphos at 1:14 a.m. CEST on Tuesday, changing its trajectory slightly. NASA wants to broadcast the collision of a spacecraft to a celestial body the size of a car and 160 meters wide over the Internet.
Even if everything doesn’t go according to plan, there is no danger in experimentation. After all, Dimorphos and the asteroid Didymos that orbit Dimorphos are always at least seven million miles from Earth.
The spacecraft’s impact is intended to slightly alter Dimorphos’ orbit. According to NASA’s plan, it will take ten minutes less to orbit Didymos than the previous eleven hours and 55 minutes. If the spacecraft misses Dimorphos, it will have enough fuel for a second attempt in two years.
Of the billions of asteroids and comets in our solar system, very few are classified as potentially dangerous to our planet. No impact on Earth is expected for the next 100 years.
This message was broadcast on Deutschlandfunk on September 25, 2022.
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