NASA will test the protection of the Earth from potentially dangerous asteroids
NASA will test the protection of the Earth from potentially dangerous asteroids for the first time in November, writes the Washington Post.
The agency will launch a Falcon 9 rocket with a special probe to one of the space bodies, which will have to collide with the object and change its orbit.
The launch is scheduled for November 24 from California. The probe will reach the double asteroid Didim-Dimorf in the fall of 2022 and crash into it at a speed of 25 thousand km per hour. As a result of the experiment, scientists will further improve the method of protection against threats from space.
Earlier it was reported that NASA missed an asteroid 2021 SG approaching the Earth, the size of which is comparable to the Statue of Liberty. The celestial body on September 16 approached the Earth by 246 thousand km, which is approximately two times less than the distance to the Moon. At the same time, astronomers learned about the approach of the asteroid only the next day.
