The US space agency Nasa on November 23, 2021 (US Time) launched DART spacecraft on a mission to smash into an asteroid and test whether it would be possible to knock a speeding space rock off course if one were to threaten Earth.
- The Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission or DART was lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
- The boxy, 1,200- pound (540-kilogram) DART spacecraft will slam head-on into Dimorphos, an asteroid 525 feet across, at 15,000 mph (24,139 kph) next September.
What is Dimorphos?
- Dimorphos orbits a much larger asteroid called Didymos. The pair are no danger to Earth but offer scientists a better way to measure the effectiveness of a collision than a single asteroid flying through space.
- Dimorphos completes one orbit of Didymos every 11 hours, 55 minutes. DART’s goal is a crash that will slow Dimorphos down and cause it to fall closer toward the bigger asteroid, shaving 10 minutes off its orbit.
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