"Prevent the Great Extinction"... One Month Left Until Humanity's First Earth Defense Experiment [Reading Science]

US NASA to Conduct DART Spacecraft Impact Experiment on September 26 at 7:14 PM
Part of Research to Prevent Asteroid Collisions

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "Save humanity from the '6th mass extinction'." Humanity's first Planetary Defense experiment is just one month away.

According to NASA on the 23rd (local time), the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft, launched by NASA last year, will collide with its target, the Dimorphos asteroid, at 7:14 PM on the 26th of next month. NASA plans to broadcast this event live starting from 6 PM, about an hour before the collision, through its own TV channel, website, and social media accounts.

NASA launched the DART spacecraft on November 23 last year with a total budget of $325 million (approximately 400 billion KRW). This is a preliminary study to prepare for the possibility of billions of asteroids in the solar system colliding with Earth. The main objective is to collect data by observing whether the trajectory changes after the spacecraft collides with the asteroid. The DART spacecraft, about the size of a small car, has traveled approximately 11 million km over the past 10 months and is currently close to the Didymos-Dimorphos binary asteroid system. In one month, it will intentionally collide with Dimorphos (160 meters in diameter), the smaller satellite of the pair. A small satellite launched by the Italian Space Agency will record the entire process. The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch the Hera probe in 2024 to verify the effects of the collision, such as changes in the mass and orbit of the Dimorphos satellite. Observations will also be conducted using ground-based astronomical telescopes.

This experiment is part of research aimed at preventing asteroids that pose a high risk of colliding with Earth. Asteroid impacts have been one of the main causes of the five mass extinctions of life over Earth's 4.6 billion-year history. In particular, a giant asteroid over 10 km in diameter, believed to have struck the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico about 65 million years ago, caused the extinction of the dinosaurs that dominated Earth at the time. Even recently, the damage and fear caused by asteroids persist. A 50-meter asteroid that fell in Russia in 1908 caused tremendous damage with a shockwave equivalent to 15 atomic bombs. There are about 23,000 known asteroids passing near Earth, with more than 2,000 estimated to pose a threat to Earth.

Among these, four asteroids?Apophis, Bennu (101955 Bennu), 1950DA, and 2007FT3?have relatively high collision probabilities and become objects of fear whenever they approach Earth. Recently, NASA announced that Apophis's orbit has become irregular, eliminating the possibility of collision with Earth within the next 100 years. Apophis is expected to approach as close as 37,000 km from Earth in April 2029, a mission Korea had considered but effectively canceled. Bennu will approach Earth in 2182, with a collision probability of 1 in 2,700. Based on the results of this experiment, NASA plans the 'HAMMER' spacecraft project to alter Bennu's trajectory. Additionally, in 2026, NASA plans to launch the 'NEO Surveyor' space telescope, capable of monitoring two-thirds of small asteroids within 48 million km of Earth.

Scientists continue research on destroying or altering the orbits of asteroids posing a high collision risk to Earth using nuclear bombs or metal rods. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in the U.S. announced simulation results showing that detonating a 1-megaton nuclear bomb on a 100-meter asteroid shattered it, causing 99.9% of the fragments to miss Earth. A research team at the University of California is developing technology to destroy asteroids by launching missiles equipped with metal rods to generate shockwaves, similar to Korea's Hyunmoo 4 missile (bunker buster). In 2016, Russian scientists considered a project to destroy the Apophis asteroid using an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but it was canceled due to concerns about adverse effects on Earth.

The U.S. plans to use the $400 million DART project to develop deep space navigation technology, experiment with innovative solar power technology, and test advanced xenon propulsion systems.

Meanwhile, China announced earlier this year that it plans to implement its own 'Planetary Defense' program and asteroid collision project. At the 'National Space Day' event in April, the China National Space Administration introduced plans to conduct such experiments between 2025 and 2026 and to establish an early warning system for asteroids.