The collision between the NASA ship and the asteroid will take place in 30 days, allowing it to be deflected.
Launched November 23, 2022, the DART mission is only a month away from reaching its target. The NASA spacecraft will intentionally crash into the surface of an asteroid on September 27.
Although this asteroid is not on a collision course with Earth, the mission is a test to see if “kinetic impact technology” would work to deflect any asteroids that may threaten our planet in the future.
Allow humanity to be prepared in the event of threat of impact in the future
If the mission is a success then “we think this technique could be part of a toolbox, which we are starting to fill, in order to deflect an asteroid”, said Lindley Johnson, of the Planetary Defense Department of NASA. , when the mission is launched.
Around 27,000 asteroids close to the blue planet are currently known. The asteroid Bennu, which measures 500 meters in diameter, is one of the two asteroids identified in our solar system posing the most risk to Earth, according to NASA. But by 2300, the risk of a collision is only 0.057%.