NASA HAS A SPACECRAFT THAT’S ABOUT TO CRASH INTO AN ASTEROID – HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
IT’S PART OF A TEST MISSION TO SEE IF WE CAN DEFLECT DANGEROUS INCOMING OBJECTS HEADED TOWARD EARTH AND DEFEND THE PLANET FROM A POTENTIAL FUTURE DISASTERTHE SPACECRAFT – KNOWN AS THE DOUBLE ASTEROID REDIRECTION TEST OR DART – IS ALREADY ON COURSE TRAVELING AT ABOUT 14,000 MILES AN HOUR
NASA HAS BEEN TRACKING DART’S PATH OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS AND ON SEPTEMBER 26 IT WILL MEET ITS DEMISE AND SMASH INTO THIS ROUGHLY 11 BILLION POUND ASTEROID NAMED DIMPORPHOS
DIMORPHIS IS NOT A THREAT TO EARTH – IT’S ABOUT 7 MILLION MILES AWAY – *YOU CAN THINK OF THIS AS A FAR FAR AWAY TEST RUN – WITH LITTLE RISK?
TAKE IT FROM NASA- THEY’RE HOPING THE CRASH WILL CHANGE THE TRAJECTORY OF THE ASTEROID’S COURSE BY JUST A TINY BIT WHICH THEY SAY WOULD ADD UP TO A MAJOR SHIFT OVER TIME
BUT WE WON’T BE GETTING RESULTS JUST YET – IT COULD TAKE DAYS OR WEEKS TO FIND OUT IF WE ACTUALLY CHANGED ITS ORBIT
IN 2024, THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY WILL SEND ITS OWN SPACECRAFT TO TRACE THE JOURNEY AND SEE IF THIS *FIRST EVER SAVE-THE-WORLD EXPERIMENT* REMAINS SCI FI FICTION OR A STEP FORWARD FOR MANKIND