The American space agency NASA together with SpaceX will launch a Falcon 24 rocket into space with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft tomorrow, November 9.
DART is a spacecraft designed to hit an asteroid to change its orbit.
The purpose of this mission is to check the planetary defense system, which could prevent potentially dangerous asteroids from hitting the Earth, so that we do not repeat the path of the dinosaurs.
This will be the first attempt by mankind to influence the "gravitational dance" of the Solar System. She must give the first real data about what is needed to deflect an asteroid from the Earth, which can lead to Armageddon.
The target is the asteroid Dimorphos. Its diameter is about 160 meters. It does not threaten the Earth, but is an ideal candidate for testing, because it is convenient to observe it from ground-based telescopes.
The launch of the NASA spacecraft will take place on November 24 from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California. If everything goes according to plan, it will collide with an asteroid at the end of September next year at a distance of almost 11 million kilometers from the Earth.
The purpose of the mission is not to destroy the asteroid, but to change its orbit. Scientists want to find out whether it is possible to correct the course of a celestial body in this way.
The cost of the mission is 350 million dollars.
