NASA to crash an unmanned spacecraft against asteroid in a 'defense test'

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) latest project known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) aims to do an ultimate 'defensive test’. According to NASA, the superlative project is set to demonstrate the kinetic impactor technique, which will change the motion pattern of an asteroid heading towards the Earth. The project aims to create an ultimate planetary defence by shifting the orbits of such asteroids in space.

NASA to crash an unmanned spacecraft against asteroid

The space organisation aims to change an incoming asteroid’s orbit through kinetic impact. NASA is now planning to perform a live demonstration, which will see the US space agency sending an unmanned spacecraft. The test will be done by launching the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket towards moonlet Didymos from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The unmanned spacecraft will then travel millions of miles entering space and in turn crash against the Didymos asteroid. The space agency will also be sending a small spacecraft that will separate from DART to take live pictures of the event. The pictures will be used to study the crash in real-time and understand how it would work in a real-life scenario. The ‘defence-driven test’ will be placed intact if successful to prevent any impact of hazardous asteroids on the planet in the future.

NASA released a statement on their website to explain how the project will work. The statement said, “The DART spacecraft will achieve the kinetic impact deflection by deliberately crashing itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6.6 km/s, with the aid of an onboard camera (named DRACO) and sophisticated autonomous navigation software. The collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of one per cent, but this will change the orbital period of the moonlet by several minutes - enough to be observed and measured using telescopes on Earth.”

The highly futuristic project is currently in Phase C at the Marshall Space Flight Center at NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. While the US agency expects the launch window to begin on November 2021, the SpaceX Falcon 9 is expected to collide against the asteroid in September 2022.

IMAGE: PIXABAY/ AP