LOS ANGELES - Hurtling through the solar system at hypersonic speed, Nasa's Dart spacecraft on Tuesday successfully slammed itself into an asteroid some 11 million km from Earth in a test of the world's first planetary defence system,
Up until five minutes before impact, mission controllers could have intervened if something had gone wrong. After that, they too were just spectators like everyone watching the stream of photographs of Dimorphos getting bigger and bigger.
Whether it succeeded beyond accomplishing its intended impact will not be known until further ground-based telescope observations of the asteroid next month. “Nasa works for the benefit of humanity. So, for us it’s the ultimate fulfilment of our mission to do something like this, a technology demonstration that, who knows, some day could save our home,” Nasa Deputy Administrator Palm Melroy, a retired astronaut, said minutes after the impact.made most of its voyage under the guidance of Nasa's flight directors, with control handed over to an autonomous on-board navigation system in the final hours of the journey..
Neither object presents any actual threat to Earth, and Nasa scientists said their Dart test could not create a new hazard by mistake. A Dimorphos-sized asteroid, while not capable of posing a planet-wide threat, could level a major city with a direct hit. Also, the two asteroids’ relative proximity to Earth and dual configuration make them ideal for the first proof-of-concept mission of Dart, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test.
Astronomers have catalogued most of the giant asteroids that can destroy Earth, and none that have been identified so far pose a risk for the foreseeable future.
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Nasa's Dart spacecraft hits target asteroid in test of planetary defence systemThe asteroid, about the size of a football stadium, was hit at some 11 million km from Earth. Read more at straitstimes.com.
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Nasa's Dart spacecraft hits target asteroid in test of planetary defence systemLOS ANGELES - Hurtling through the solar system at hypersonic speed, Nasa's Dart spacecraft on Tuesday successfully slammed itself into an asteroid some 11 million km from Earth in a test of the world's first planetary defence system,
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