NASA says that its DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft is scheduled to collide with the asteroid Dimorphos at roughly 7.14 PM EDT on September 26 (4.44 AM IST on September 27). The mission would be the first to check a “kinetic impactor” technique of planetary defence, which entails altering the trajectory of asteroids that threaten Earth by crashing a high-speed spacecraft into it.
Dimorphos doesn’t pose a menace to earth however the knowledge obtained from DART’s crash with will probably be in comparison with the info from varied pc simulations run by scientists to establish whether or not this kinetic impactor technique will stay a viable choice in case of an precise threatening asteroid. Scientists don’t but know the precise mass of Dimorphos however it’s estimated to be round 5 billion kilograms. The DART spacecraft weighs round 600 kilograms. NASA scientists use the analogy of a “golf cart crashing into the Great Pyramid” to explain the crash. In the occasion of an precise menace, this kinetic impactor technique must be carried out years and even a long time earlier than the anticipated crash time in an effort to meaningfully change the trajectory of the asteroid that threatens the Earth.
NASA’s livestream of the DART mission will begin at 6 PM EDT on September 26 (3.30 AM IST on September 27. You can watch it on NASA TV, NASA’s cellular app, its YouTube channel or by the window above. You can learn reside updates under.