The US space agency NASA launched a spacecraft this morning (Wednesday) aimed at reaching a binary system of a small asteroid and a large asteroid, in order to collide with the small asteroid in order to change its orbit slightly - in such a way that it will be noticeable.
The space mission, dubbed DART (Hebrew for Arrow), will be performed by a spacecraft that aims to "commit suicide" on the small asteroid in the binary system.
The spacecraft was launched using SpaceX's Falcon 9 missiles from California and is expected to reach its destination during September 2022. The mission aims to produce a change in the asteroid's orbit and examine how the spacecraft's impact will affect asteroid, which is (relatively) close to Earth.
Launching the spacecraft on SpaceX's Falcon 9 missile, Photo: APP
The spacecraft's destination is Dimorphus, a small moon that orbits it near the asteroid Didymus.
This mission will be the first time that NASA will conduct an experiment on such a scale to test Earth's defense technologies. One that can be measured.
Asteroid Dimorphos: we're coming for you!
Riding a @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, our #DARTMission blasted off at 1:21 am EST (06:21 UTC), launching the world's first mission to test asteroid-deflecting technology.
pic.twitter.com/FRj1hMyzgH
- NASA (@NASA) November 24, 2021
Meanwhile, Dr. Adi Ninio Greenberg of the Israeli Space Agency this morning referred to the GLC for the first space mission of its kind and said that "the spacecraft is supposed to collide with an asteroid in September-October. A small satellite will emerge to photograph the collision. "Humanity is dealing with threats coming from outside the Earth. The idea is to produce a very small change in the asteroid's orbit, but this is a start.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/XY3C6N54G4B3XBPGV7YLE3AUKM.jpg)
