If there are events whose historical character is absolutely beyond doubt at the very moment when they occur (the first step of man on the Moon, the attacks of September 11, etc.), there are others whose the scope is more difficult to assess.
Successful completion of the Dart mission falls into this second category.
During the night of Monday to Tuesday and for the first time in its history, humanity deviated an asteroid from its trajectory by hitting it with a probe sent at more than 22,000 km / h.
The whole question now is to know to what extent this maneuver tested by NASA would really protect us from an asteroid that would be heading towards Earth.
Would this Promethean gesture be effective, or totally useless?
It is precisely to find out that this life-size test was carried out.
At first glance, the fight might seem disproportionate: the Dart probe weighed only 500 kg, or 10 million times less than the asteroid Dimorphos…
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