NASA chooses SpaceX to crush its rocket on a "dangerous" asteroid and redirect it

NASA chose SpaceX for a bold mission to hit the moon with a "dangerous" asteroid – deflecting it.

The rocket company – led by Tesla leader Elon Musk – will begin the mission in June 2021.

But SpaceX will not intercept Didymos' little "moonlight" until October 7, 2022, when the asteroid will be about 7 million kilometers from Earth.

NASA has been thinking about the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission for years.

But this week, NASA chose SpaceX as the launch partner for this mission, using its powerful rocket systems.

NASA describes DART as "the very first mission to demonstrate the ability to deflect an asteroid by hitting a high-speed spacecraft."

In short, NASA and SpaceX will send a probe into the space that will "crash" on the moon of the asteroid Didymos.

"DART is a test focused on planetary defense of one of the technologies to prevent the impact of a dangerous asteroid on Earth: the kinetic impactor," NASA explained.

"The main objective of DART is to demonstrate a kinetic impact on a small asteroid.

"While Didymos' main body is about 800 meters tall, his secondary body (or" moonlet ") is 150 meters (492 feet) in size, which is more typical of the size of the asteroids that could be common danger on the Earth. . "

Didymos is officially classified as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" and "Near Earth Object", which means it is high on NASA's list of space priorities.

It was first discovered by the University of Arizona in 1996, using a telescope located in the Kitt Peak National Observatory.

It revolves around the sun once every 770 days and rotates rapidly every 2.26 hours.

NASA's DART probe will "deliberately crash" into the moon at about 6 km (3.7 m) / s.

The probe will be assisted by an on-board camera and autonomous navigation software.

NASA hopes that the collision will change by 1% the speed of the moon in its orbit around the main asteroid Didymos.

This should be enough to measure with the help of telescopes on Earth, allowing NASA to track the success of the mission.

Fortunately, Didymos is not meant to hit Earth anyway – but is considered "dangerous" because of its proximity to our planet.

But NASA proves that its technique could work, the deviation of asteroids could serve as a system of "planetary defense" essential for future generations.

The mission will not be cheap: the launch of NASA will cost $ 69 million.

But it's a small price to pay to save humanity, of course.