In recent news, the European Space Agency (ESA) has successfully used a novel technique to give an asteroid an extra push. The asteroid, known as Dimorphos, was given an extra push by the ESA’s Deep Impact Ejection (DART) mission. This mission was designed to test the effectiveness of using a kinetic impactor to alter the trajectory of an asteroid.
The DART mission was launched in June of 2019 and made its way to Dimorphos, a binary asteroid system located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The mission involved the use of a kinetic impactor, which is a spacecraft that uses its own momentum to alter the trajectory of an object. The impactor was designed to hit Dimorphos at a speed of 6.6 km/s, which is about 9 times faster than a bullet.
The impact of the kinetic impactor gave Dimorphos an extra push, changing its trajectory by about 0.4 mm/s. This may not seem like much, but it is enough to alter the asteroid’s orbit over time. This is important because it could potentially be used to prevent asteroids from hitting Earth in the future.
The success of the DART mission is a major breakthrough for asteroid deflection technology. It has shown that kinetic impactors can be used to alter the trajectory of asteroids and potentially prevent them from hitting Earth. This technology could be used to protect our planet from potentially hazardous asteroids in the future.
The DART mission is just the beginning of a new era of space exploration and asteroid deflection technology. It has shown that kinetic impactors can be used to change the trajectory of asteroids and potentially prevent them from hitting Earth. This technology could be used to protect our planet from potentially hazardous asteroids in the future.
Overall, the success of the DART mission is a major breakthrough for asteroid deflection technology. It has shown that kinetic impactors can be used to alter the trajectory of asteroids and potentially prevent them from hitting Earth. This technology could be used to protect our planet from potentially hazardous asteroids in the future and will no doubt be used in many more missions in the years to come.
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