Earth now has a way to deflect incoming catastrophic asteroids by crashing spacecraft into them.
NASA successfully crashed its Double Asteroid Rendezvous Test (DART) spacecraft onto an asteroid in the U.S. space agency's first-ever planetary defense test to check if it is capable of deflecting an asteroid that could possibly hurtle towards Earth, Space.com reported.
DART crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos, which was orbiting around its larger parent space rock Didymos. The spacecraft attempted to change its orbit and prove the planet-saving deflection possible.
This Earth-saving defense was unfortunately not something available 65 million years ago when the Chicxulub asteroid slammed the Yucatan Peninsula and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
NASA's chief scientist and senior climate advisor Katherine Calvin told Space.com that the dinosaurs did not have a space program that could have helped them and that DART represents the "important progress" in understanding future hazards and protecting Earth from these potential threats.
The DART spacecraft, which is just as big as a golf cart, crashed into Dimorphos at 7:14 p.m. EDT (2314 GMT) on Monday while cruising at an incredible 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). DART is not as large as the usual NASA spacecraft, but the U.S. space agency hoped that the 1,320-pound (600-kilogram) probe could push the 534-foot-wide (163 meters) Dimorphos slightly faster in its orbit around its parent Didymos.
Acknowledging that the spacecraft was "small," DART coordination lead at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Research Laboratory (JHUAPL) Nancy Chabot describes the event as like ramming a golf cart onto the Great Pyramid.
'Nerve-wracking" Moments As DART Slams Into Dimorphos
Despite the on-target crash, emotions ran high in mission control as the spacecraft careened towards Dimorphos for its destruction, Space.com further noted in its report. The spacecraft's last four hours were automated, with its navigation system aiming at Dimorphos in the approach's final hour. DART's main camera sent photos back to Earth every second until its feed went blank, indicating that the spacecraft had crashed into the asteroid.
JHUAPL Chief scientist for planetary defense Andy Cheng, who came up with the DART mission's concept in 2011, said watching the event was "nerve-wracking." The $313-million spacecraft was launched on November 23, 2021.
As DART closed in on Dimorphos, the probe showed pictures of a landscape of boulders, crags, and shadowed terrain. And as the DART feed went blank, flight controllers inside DART's mission operations center jumped for joy and traded hugs and high fives to celebrate the triumph. DART hit its asteroid on target.
The DART mission comprised what NASA describes as a "kinetic impactor" for planetary defense: slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid to alter its orbit. It's one method to defend the Earth if a potentially dangerous asteroid was determined to be five or ten years before hitting our planet.
Risk of Asteroid Impact on Earth Remote but Real, Says NASA
The risk of an asteroid hitting the Earth may be remote, but a continued threat is real, NASA scientists have stressed. Currently, there are 40% of the large asteroids as wide as 500 feet (140 meters) could pose a threat to the Earth, with NASA regularly scanning the depths of space for more. NASA is also preparing to launch a new space telescope sentinel called the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, specifically intended to search out for hazardous asteroids in the solar system. This launch is planned for 2026.
