NASA spacecraft successfully hits an asteroid

                    for the first time


NASA spacecraft successfully hits an asteroid for the first time

Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, September 27 (intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin) Comprehensive foreign media reports that NASA's "double small" spacecraft of the Planetary Redirection Test (DART) mission crashed into an asteroid called Dimorphos in the first test of human planetary defense at 7:14 this morning Beijing time.

The DART spacecraft, which was 11 million kilometers from Earth and weighed 600 kilograms, struck the target asteroid Dimophos at a speed of 22,500 kilometers per hour. Dimorphous has a diameter of 163 meters and weighs about 5 million tons.

"It's an incredible thing. This capability has never existed before for us."

When an asteroid hit the earth about 66 million years ago, the dinosaurs couldn't escape and eventually died out. In addition, if another asteroid that represents the end of the world lands on Earth today, its impact demonstrates that humans may be able to alter their fate of destruction.

Asteroid "Dimorphos" (Didymos), which is larger and has a diameter of 780 meters, is said to be in orbit around "Dimorphos" for about 11 hours and 55 minutes. Although neither poses a threat to Earth, NASA used them as test subjects in its endeavor to alter Dimovers' orbit.

NASA's deflection technology, which could safeguard Earth, was first fully demonstrated on this mission. By deflecting a near-Earth asteroid or comet with the kinetic energy impact of a spacecraft, the first such mission, DART, aims to determine whether the technology can one day safeguard Earth from bad luck.

Asteroids and comets that orbit within 48.3 million kilometers of Earth are known as "near-Earth objects."Space research organizations worldwide place a high priority on identifying threats posed by near-Earth objects.

NASA stated that the 18-meter-diameter meteorite that exploded in 2013 over Chelyabinsk, Russia, was a "stern reminder" of the dangers posed by extraterrestrial objects to Earth and its inhabitants as well as the significance of planetary defense. If they collide with Earth, an estimated 25,000 objects much larger than the Chelyabinsk meteor could cause damage to the surrounding region.

The head of the Space Exploration Unit at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Robert Braun, stated, "For the first time ever, we can measurably alter the orbits of objects in the universe."

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated, "There are so many ideas for this mission that it will teach us how to protect our own planet from asteroids."We are demonstrating that planet defense is a worldwide endeavor. And probably will save our planet."