There's a New Asteroid Deflection System in The Works, And It Could Be Up by 2025

Dinosaurs are extinct because they didn't develop a space agency, according to an old joke. The implication is that unlike our ancestors, we humans might be able to save ourselves from an asteroid strike.

Since Sputnik, we have achieved amazing things, but very little effort has gone into developing the technologies that would protect us from asteroids. We have never put our capabilities to the test, and we are woefully inexperienced in this arena. That is about to change.

The deputy head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced last week that they plan to carry out a test of an asteroid defense system as early as 2025.

The monitoring system will use both ground and space-based instruments to catalog objects that may pose a threat.

The earlier you catch an asteroid, the easier it is to hit it. If an asteroid is seen later in the day, it would be harder to change its course.

Space agencies around the world have built robust asteroid monitoring systems and cataloged many thousands of Solar System objects. The highest risk object, known as 2010 RF12, has a small chance of an Earth impact in 2095.

A 7-meter asteroid would cause a fireball like the Chelyabinsk meteor. The new monitoring project is a welcome addition as there may be more to come.

The shooting stars that streak harmlessly through the sky every night of the year are unlikely to cause damage when it comes to asteroid hunting.

On the other side of the spectrum, the largest asteroids are easy to spot and keep track of.

It is the middle-sized asteroids that are the most dangerous because they are small enough that we may not find them in time.

It helps us understand how best to dodge asteroids. Bennu was discovered to be a loose gravel pit by the OSIRIS-Rex mission. It would require a different technique to hit such a target.

With enough time and warning, a gravity tractor could be used to tug at the asteroid with the mass of a spaceship, or a painting of the asteroid white could be done.

NASA.

The technique uses mass of a spaceship to impart a force on an asteroid.

The simplest way to hit an asteroid is hard.

An engineering effort to design and build a high thrust rocket that can carry a kinetic impactor will be part of the new monitoring program. They plan to test the impactor on a target asteroid.

The first steps toward developing asteroid defense capabilities are being taken by NASA and the European Space Agency. The DART mission will attempt to change the position of Dimorphos, a tiny moon circling Didymos, by slamming into the moon at high speed.

The change in trajectory is likely to be very small, and it is the first test of its kind. DART is targeting a moon rather than a lone asteroid because it will be easier to measure the tiny changes in Dimorphos' orbit with nearby asteroid Didymos available to provide a frame of reference.

The DART mission will impact Dimorphos in September of this year, followed by Hera in the year 2027, which will observe the aftermath of the impact up close.

In the short term, the threat of an asteroid impact is small, but it is almost certain in the long term.

DART and the new impactor project are important first steps to keeping Earth safe and making sure we don't go the way of the dinosaurs. If only we could get climate change under control.

The article was published by Universe Today. The original article is worth a read.