Are we really crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid? We sure are — all in the name of planetary defense. The DARTMission is a technology test to see if an impactor could change the trajectory of an asteroid. JHUAPL's Nancy Chabot tells us more:
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’s Efforts to Identify Near-Earth Objects and Mitigate Hazards.”The PDCO sponsors studies of technologies and techniques for deflecting an asteroid off a predicted impact course with Earth. It is developing missions to demonstrate those technologies and determine their effectiveness in the event that these techniques must be utilized against a predicted asteroid impact threat.
is the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact. This method will have will impact Dimorphos to change its orbit within the binary system, and the