On Sept. 26, DART will slam headfirst into a small asteroid. You know, for science.
"These objects are hurtling through space and have of course scarred the moon and, over time, also on Earth have had major impacts, have affected our history," Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, said during a news conference held on Monday . "A series of new missions that we put in place are actually helping us understand and quantify those threats in an unprecedented fashion," Zurbuchen added.
The theory goes that if scientists ever detected an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, an impactor probe could realign the orbit of the space rock, ensuring that it crossed Earth's path when our planet was a safe distance away. But scientists don't want to be working only from theory if the situation arises.
Scientists on Earth will be spending weeks after the impact measuring the actual change in the moonlet's orbit to compare with their predictions. The work will refine scientists' understanding of how asteroids respond to impactors and help to tune any future missions to the necessary amount of orbital change.
While the stakes are low compared to any scenario that would motivate a real asteroid-deflecting mission, the difficulty is the same.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
Faces of the New Jersey victims of Sept. 11On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 American lost their lives, and more than 700 of those victims were from New Jersey. Their memories live on. ❤️🇺🇸
Consulte Mais informação »
Jill Biden shares memories of Sept. 11 as wife, sister, moreWhen Jill Biden realized that terrorists had attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001, her husband, Joe, wasn't the only loved one whose safety she worried about.
Consulte Mais informação »
Jill Biden shares memories of Sept. 11 as wife, sister, moreJill Biden recalled being 'scared to death' that her sister Bonny Jacobs, a United Airlines flight attendant, was on one of the four hijacked airplanes that were flown into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people.
Consulte Mais informação »
Jill Biden shares memories of Sept. 11 as wife, sister, more'SCARED TO DEATH' When Jill Biden realized that terrorists had attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001, her husband, Joe, wasn't the only loved one whose safety she worried about. Her sister, Bonny Jacobs, was a United Airlines flight attendant.
Consulte Mais informação »
See the conjunction of the moon and Jupiter on Sunday (Sept. 11)On Sunday (Sept. 11), the largest planet in the solar system will be seen next to the moon.
Consulte Mais informação »