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Scientists continue to draw attention to the importance of closely monitoring and understanding asteroids close to Earth in order to reduce the possibility of collisions that could cause great damage to life and the natural environment, as in the extinction of dinosaurs in the past.
Studies continue non-stop on asteroids, which are remnants of the formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago and have the potential to hit Earth.
In December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring International Asteroid Day on 30 June, which aims to raise public awareness of the danger of asteroid impact and inform the public about the crisis communication actions to be taken globally in the event of a credible threat to objects close to Earth, according to the UN website.
Smaller than the planets, most asteroids in the solar system are in the asteroid belt approximately between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. But some of them can go out of orbit and be launched into the inner solar system and even enter Earth’s orbit.
DART: spacecraft intended to intentionally collide with an asteroid
In November last year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US space agency, began its first test mission of a planetary defense system by launching a spacecraft intended to hit an asteroid. hoping to bring about a measurable change in their trajectory.
The Double Asteroid Redirection (DART) test was launched aboard a SpaceX rocket from the Vandenberg space force base in central California.
The spacecraft is designed to intentionally collide with an asteroid at such a speed that it will change the speed of rotation and the direction of motion of the asteroid to a level that can be measured with ground-based telescopes.
The spacecraft will cross for about a year until it reaches its target – a pair of asteroids known as Didymos – and will crash into the smallest, Dimorphos, at nearly 15,000 miles (24,140 kilometers) per hour, or four miles (six). kilometers) per second. NASA stresses that the mission is just a test and that asteroids are not a threat to Earth.
It is expected to arrive in Didymos between September 26 and October 1, 2022.
NASA’s Psyche mission
According to NASA’s official website, the Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
With a large number of precious metals such as gold, platinum, nickel, copper, cobalt, iridium and radium, the asteroid Psyche was discovered in 1852.
The importance of the mission is that Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion created by the terrestrial planets.
NASA has halted its planned launch attempt for 2022 of the Psyche asteroid mission due to the late delivery of the flight software and test equipment from the spacecraft.
The mission aims to explore the asteroid in detail for the first time. Experts predict that the mission will be extended to 2023 or 2024 and the vehicle will reach Psyche in 2029 or 2030.
Potential risk of asteroids
The potential danger of asteroids in the early 20th century revealed what damage even a small-sized asteroid could cause if it touched Earth.
Recorded as the largest asteroid impact in recent Earth history, on June 30, 1908, a 40-meter (131-foot)-diameter asteroid crashed in the Tunguska region of Siberia, destroying a forest. the size of a large city.
In the resulting fires, 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) of forest area in the taiga of eastern Siberia were destroyed.
The event inspired the adoption of June 30 as International Asteroid Day by the UN in 2016.
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