"It depends on the size of the object and how much warning time you have, but you do, indeed, just need to change the orbit a little bit," he said. In a real-life planetary defense situation, even a relatively small nudge could change an asteroid's orbit enough to keep Earth in the clear, Betts said. The goal isn't to obliterate the asteroid but rather to see whether the collision can alter the space rock's nearly 12-hour orbit. On Monday, the spacecraft will crash into Dimorphos at a blistering speed of around 4 miles per second, or 15,000 mph. The DART probe's target is a space rock called Dimorphos, which measures 525 feet across and orbits a much larger, 2,500-foot-wide asteroid named Didymos. "That's a huge difference compared to a lot of other large-scale natural disasters." "The thing that makes this natural disaster different is that if we do our homework, we can actually prevent it," he said. It's a rare opportunity to conduct a real-world experiment on an asteroid that doesn't pose a threat to Earth, said Bruce Betts, the chief scientist at the Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that conducts research, advocacy and outreach to promote space exploration.īetts called the DART mission "a big step forward for humanity," saying it will not only help scientists assess one of the most popular ideas for planetary defense but also provide an exciting way to raise awareness about the need to plan ahead for such circumstances. The mission, known as DART, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will attempt a method of planetary defense that could save Earth from an asteroid on a potential collision course with the planet. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will help determine if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course. Live coverage will air on NASA TV beginning at 6 p.m.
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