The Earth has been orbiting the Sun for 4.5 billion years. During this period, it is estimated that life on the planet was restarted 5 times due to mass extinctions. The most well-known and the last one is the one that ended the life of the dinosaurs when a bolid-type meteorite with a diameter of 10 kilometers struck the planet. NASA, on the other hand, created a new planetary defense strategy together with Johns Hopkins University to prevent this event from happening again. This system will be tested at tonight’s launch. Here are the details…
NASA is launching the DART mission tonight! It will change its orbit by colliding with a meteorite in space
When we look at the distant history of our planet, we see that many events that can cause mass extinction such as earthquakes, gigantic volcanic eruptions, freezing of the entire surface and meteor strikes have taken place.
In the near future, the most likely event that we will live in and that we will be caught unprepared for will be a meteor strike. But on the surface of the Earth, even though it may seem scary to us, dinosaurs that are defenseless against meteors do not live.
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Humans have reached the level where they can go to space, the Moon and even Mars with the technologies they have developed. It is even aimed to establish colonies on other planets in the next 20 years. Therefore, if there is a meteor hitting the Earth, we can detect and prevent it before it arrives.
Working on exactly this issue, NASA and Johns Hopkins University decided to implement the project, where they carried out an applied physics experiment in the past period, in order to create the first step of effective defense of the planet.
As part of this mission, known as DART, NASA will launch a rocket into space today. Its target is Dimorfos in the 65803 Didymos system, a binary stellar system in which a large star orbits a smaller star.
Its primary star Didymos is about 780 m in diameter. Its satellite, Dimorfos, is about 1 km from its orbit and has a diameter of 160 m. The mass of the Didymos system is estimated to be 528 billion kg, and that of Dimorfos 4.8 billion kg. DART will target the little brother here.
But to put it roughly, the DART rocket will crash into this meteorite, which will hit our planet months or years later, before it’s too late. Its purpose is not to split this meteor into thousands of pieces. If it manages to apply such an effect that it deflects its orbit even 1 degree, the meteor will leave its current orbit and pass the planet tangentially in the possible scenario.
note: The launch will take place around 1:30 am. You can click the link below to watch NASA’s live broadcast.
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