We're going to slam into an asteroid.
The first planetary defence method of its kind was launched by NASA on Wednesday.
It was launched at 1:21 a.m. NASA's DART mission will be carried out by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California. Mark Kaufman of Mashable said that they will "slam a spaceship the size of a vending machine into a space rock the size of a great Egyptian pyramid."
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The DART mission is meant to protect Earth from potential asteroid or comet impacts, though NASA is not currently tracking any, so don't freak out just yet.
Didymos is an asteroid system with a moonlet that is 530 feet wide. The system is not a threat and has been chosen for a test.
At 2:17 a.m. After DART separated from the second stage of the rocket, mission operators received the first transmission of data, and began to move the spacecraft to a safe spot to deploy its solar array.
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And it did! It took about two hours, but the craft unfurled its solar array, which will power the craft and NASA's awesomely named evolutionary ion engine, and one of a bunch of tech that's being tested on this mission for future use.
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It will take almost a year to see an asteroid collision. Between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1, 2022, the spaceship will body slam Didymos at about 6 kilometres per second. The impact will cut the asteroid's flight time in half. Future models will be used to determine how effective this method is at averting potential asteroid collision with Earth.
If you're interested, you can watch the whole launch here.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a press statement on Wednesday that DART is turning science fiction into science fact and is a testament to NASA's proactivity and innovation. This test will help prove out one viable way to protect our planet from a hazardous asteroid should one ever be discovered that is headed toward Earth, and in addition to all the ways NASA studies our universe and our home planet, we're also working to protect that home, and this test will
He's correct. The test is important for humanity.
If you want to follow the DART mission yourself, you can follow NASA, AsteroidWatch, andJHUAPL.
