NASA's DART asteroid mission is a trial run for Earth's potential usage of planetary defence measures in the event of an asteroid hit.
The September 26 NASA DART asteroid collision has the whole scientific community both thrilled and scared. It's the first time humanity's defences will be put to the test against an oncoming threat.
Also, Read: Analysis of particles of Asteroid Ryugu sheds light on origins of life on Earth
NASA researchers don't want to miss a minute of the action, so they're watching a Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) live. That's why they'll be using both the seasoned Hubble Space Telescope and the rising star James Webb Space Telescope to watch the show as it happens.
NASA's DART asteroid mission is a trial run for Earth's potential usage of planetary defence measures in the event of an asteroid hit. The goal of this operation is to destroy the Dimorphos asteroid by crashing a spaceship against it. According to experts, the asteroid's path will be altered as a result of the impact. This test flight will teach NASA a number of important things, including how much deflection is possible and how fast an object must be moving in order to achieve that deflection.
"This is a unique opportunity and a unique moment to take all the resources that we possibly can to maximize what we've learned”, Nancy Chabot, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore and DART's coordination lead, stated during a media briefing, according Space.com.
NASA will gather data in different methods. The incident will be recorded by a cubesat aboard the spaceship. Three minutes after impact, it will sends photos. ESA will deploy a spacecraft in 2026 to analyse the impact. Several ground-based telescopes will also live broadcast. NASA needs Hubble and Webb telescopes, however.
Space telescopes may give a sharper sight without disrupting Earth's atmosphere. These telescopes function on multiple spectrums and may capture diverse data, helping scientists fill in gaps.
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