Why NASA and ESA are trying to crash a spaceship into an asteroid
The international space community has identified a target to help deflect asteroids away from Earth.
European and American space officials have launched plans to deflect asteroids away from the Earth, in hopes of better protecting the planet and of understanding the way asteroids form and operate.
Or, , 鈥淣ASA and ESA are forming a super space team to prevent armageddon.鈥�
The project, called the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) Mission, was first announced in 2012. But it wasn鈥檛 until this year that officials declared a target for its studies: a near-Earth binary asteroid named 65803 Didymos.
This system, whose name is Greek for "twin," contains two asteroids: a small one (鈥淒idymoon鈥�) orbiting its larger counterpart (鈥淒idymos鈥�).
NASA's and the European Space Agency's schedules has been synchronized, but each mission is 鈥渇ully independent,鈥� ESA says聽. 鈥淭herefore if for some reason one of the spacecraft cannot contribute to the joint campaign, the other would still be able to achieve its individual mission goals.鈥�
ESA鈥檚 Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) will launch first in October 2020. These will examine the structure of the asteroids and observe as NASA鈥檚 Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft joins two years later.
Then comes DART鈥檚 crash 鈥� 鈥渟traight into the asteroid moon [Didymoon] at about 6 km/s,鈥� said ESA. 鈥淒ART鈥檚 shifting of Didymoon鈥檚 orbit would mark the first time humanity has altered the dynamics of a Solar System body in a measurable way.鈥�
What, one might ask, is the point of all this?
Perhaps the most poignant example comes from 2013 Chelyabinsk, Russia, when a meteor explosion described as 鈥渁 tiny asteroid鈥� tore through the city, injuring as many as 1,000 people. While such high numbers of casualties were unprecedented, 鈥渢he risk of asteroid impacts ... may be 10 times greater than previously thought,鈥� .
鈥淥ur Earth is that try to penetrate its protective atmosphere,鈥� ESA explains. 鈥淭he vast majority don't get through, but larger asteroids could pose a threat.鈥�
The international mission hopes to 鈥� for planning any future planetary defense strategies,鈥� the agency聽says, 鈥渙ffering insight into the kind of force needed to shift the orbit of any incoming asteroid, and better understand how the technique could be applied if a real threat were to occur.鈥�