NASA is launching a spacecraft with a daring mission dubbed Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) to crash into an asteroid.
A Digital Trends report specified that this mission is also intended to test the planetary defense options. More so, the DART mission head toward Didymos and Dimorphos, a pair of asteroids, and will crash into the tinier one in an attempt to have it knocked off-course.
For those apprehensive about the space occurrence, experts said it should not worry the public. The two asteroids are not a threat to Earth, although this test will determine what defense options this planet might have if an incoming body poses a threat to this planet.
The DART launch is slated on Wednesday, November 24, at 1:20 am and will be shown by NASA via Livestream. The said site has all the details of the DART launch.
An infographic showing the effect of DART's impact on the orbit of Didymos B while the deployment of Italian LICIACube
To Watch the DART Launch Live
To watch NASA's test, live, one can tune it to the space station's TV channel either via the video embedded at the page's top part or by visiting the website of NASA.
Coverage of the DART launch starts on November 23, Tuesday at 12:30 a, exhibiting prelaunch activities, including the launch itself.
A News of America reports specified that DART has an ambitious mission to impact and redirect the path of an asteroid for the first time in history. It is anticipated to collide with Dimorphos, an asteroid moon, in the fall of 2022,
Dimporphos is orbiting the Didymos asteroid, which is near enough for scientists to see probable impacts through terrestrial telescopes. In connection to this, a follow-up mission by the European Space Agency known as Hera was to visit the same system in 2026.
Science Live Event Featuring DART Mission
There is a NASA Science Live event as well, about the DART mission that features NASA's Science Mission Directorate's Planetary Science Division director Lori Glaze, DART coordinator lead Nancy Chabot, and telecommunications subsystem integration and test lead engineer Joshua, Ramirez Rodriguez.
NASA is set to show the event on NASA Tuesday at 4 pm and will include a chance for members of the public to send questions during the live streaming.
The DART Mission
NASA's DART mission is directed to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory with backing from various NASA centers, specifically the JET Propulsion Laboratory or JPL, Glenn Research Center or GRC, Space Center or JSC, and Langley Research Center or LaRC.
Essentially, this mission is a planetary defense-driven test of technologies, as earlier mentioned, to prevent an effect of Earth by a dangerous asteroid.
Based on NASA's description, DART will be the pioneering kinetic impactor technique to change an asteroid's motion in space.
Essentially, DART is led by APL and managed under NASA's Solar System Exploration Program at Marshall Space Flight Center for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office of the space agency and the Science Mission Directorate's Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.
Related report about the DART launch is shown on NASA's YouTube video below:
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