Starting around 2017, NASA has been currently testing to see whether slamming a satellite into an asteroid can shift its course, enrolling the assistance of SpaceX on this undertaking in 2019. Today, the rocket organization shared that it has finished a static fire test and is focusing on November 23rd as the dispatch date of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).
At 10:21pm PT that day, NASA will “intentionally crash the DART spacecraft into an asteroid to see if that is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future,” SpaceX said in a tweet.
A static fire test is one of a few steps in preparing a dispatch vehicle to send, and it checks motor startup execution, estimating things like strain and temperature. With this stage total, SpaceX and NASA look set to go on the following week.
DART is focusing on a binary asteroid with two bodies called Didymos (the Greek word for “twin”). Didymos B is 160 meters (around 174 yards) large, and orbits the bigger Didymos A, which is 780 meters in size. The binary asteroid would have passed Earth securely in 2022 and again in 2024 they weren’t on target to connect with our planet.
Yet, NASA has as of now distinguished at least 23 objects that might actually crash into us throughout the next 100 years. Coming up with a defense strategy is key to securing humanity should Armageddon ever be on the horizon.
