22.1 C
Delhi
Wednesday, October 4, 2023

NASA’s DART spacecraft crashes into asteroid

Date:

Share post:

Los Angeles: A NASA spacecraft successfully slammed into an asteroid on Monday in a test to protect Earth in case of an asteroid impact threat.

The agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe carried out the first-of-its-kind maneuver on a small space rock known as Dimorphos, about 11 million km from Earth.

The impact took place at 7:14 pm Eastern Day Time (2314 GMT) Monday, when the spacecraft was travelling at a speed of about 22,400 km per hour.

The DART mission aims to shift an asteroid’s orbit through kinetic impact, in order to test and validate a method to protect Earth in case of an asteroid impact threat, according to NASA.

As part of NASA’s larger planetary defense strategy, DART will simultaneously test new technologies and provide important data to enhance modeling and predictive capabilities to better prepare for an asteroid that might pose a threat to Earth, should one be discovered, said NASA.

The DART spacecraft was launched on November 24, 2021, and spent 10 months journeying to its asteroid target

Related articles

NewsClick faces UAPA: What is the media portal’s Chinese connection?

On Tuesday, October 3, Delhi police raided the homes of several journalists associated with NewsClick, including Abhisar Sharma,...

Tremors felt in Delhi-NCR, magnitude 6.2 earthquake in Nepal

Tremors of magnitude 4.6 were felt in Delhi-NCR and the surrounding regions after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit...

Asiad men’s kabaddi: India begin with clinical 55-18 win over B’desh

Hangzhou: The Indian men's kabaddi team began their campaign for the title at the Asian Games 2023 with...

Turkish security forces conduct over 450 operations against PKK

Ankara: Turkish security forces have conducted over 450 operations against members of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)...