Do we have a plan for when the Great Stone heads to Earth?
Astronomers agree that the question is not whether Earth will one day be hit by a meteor that could cause a major catastrophe, but when. So the question is how can we better arm ourselves against this. Roughly speaking, we can do two things when a large boulder approaches our land: make the giant change direction, or shoot it into small pieces.
change track
An attempt to push an asteroid into another orbit will begin on November 24 this year, if all goes according to plan. Arrow Double Asteroid Redirection Test. SpaceX will launch the DART spacecraft, and it is expected to collide with the 160-meter-wide asteroid 65803 Didymos B on October 2, 2022. The spacecraft weighs about 500 kilograms and will approach the asteroid at a speed of about 6.6 kilometers per second.
As a result, Didymos B only needs to slow down 0.4 mm per second. But over time, this can make the difference between hitting and losing. By the way, this is a test: the asteroid is not on its way to collide with Earth. This is in contrast to the Meteorite, which Netflix will premiere on December 24 in Don’t Look Up — it flies right at us:
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