NASA Asteroid Crashing Test
On Monday night, at 7:14 p.m., a NASA spacecraft intentionally crashed into an asteroid to redirect the direction it was initially heading. This test was performed to determine if any human-manufactured spacecraft could redirect asteroids that could potentially harm the earth someday, as one did 65 million years ago, leading to mass extinction. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, launched 10 months ago.
The asteroid, named Dimorphos, was not harmful in any way to our planet; this test was only conducted to determine if future asteroids could be diverted. While the asteroid did make contact with the spacecraft about 6.5 million miles away from Earth, scientists say it will take approximately 2 months to determine if the DART did indeed perform its task successfully by changing the direction the asteroid was originally going by a significant degree.
This is the first time in human history that we have been able to execute a test like this that could potentially save human existence. Scientists are hopeful that the DART was successful, as this could prove to be a life-changing innovation that saves billions of lives.
By: Sofia Bostic
More Information:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/world/dart-mission-nasa-scn/index.html
