Dynamite News Science & Technology: NASA's DART Spacecraft Crashes Into Asteroid
The DART mission aims to shift an asteroid's orbit through kinetic impact, in order to test and validate a method to protect Earth in case of an asteroid impact threat, according to NASA. Read more on Dynamite News:
Los Angeles: A NASA spacecraft successfully slammed into an asteroid on Monday in a test to protect Earth in case of an asteroid impact threat.
The agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe carried out the first-of-its-kind maneuver on a small space rock known as Dimorphos, about 11 million km from Earth.
The impact took place at 7:14 pm Eastern Day Time (2314 GMT) Monday, when the spacecraft was travelling at a speed of about 22,400 km per hour.
Also Read |
Chandrayaan-2 completes second de-orbiting maneuver successfully: ISRO
Read Also: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captures first images of Mars
The DART mission aims to shift an asteroid's orbit through kinetic impact, in order to test and validate a method to protect Earth in case of an asteroid impact threat, according to NASA.
As part of NASA's larger planetary defense strategy, DART will simultaneously test new technologies and provide important data to enhance modeling and predictive capabilities to better prepare for an asteroid that might pose a threat to Earth, should one be discovered, said NASA.
Also Read |
Asteroid over 22 metres in diameter to pass by Earth on Sept 1: NASA
The DART spacecraft was launched on 24 November, 2021 and spent 10 months journeying to its asteroid target. (UNI)