Earth is still not safe from the threat of asteroids. The United States Space Agency (NASA) will launch a new mission, the goal is to fend off the asteroid impact.
Through the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), NASA wants to change the direction of the asteroid's orbit so that it doesn't fall to Earth.
Scientists' concern about asteroids is not without cause. They take lessons from the events of the dinosaur era about 66 million years ago which were destroyed because of the impact of the asteroid impact.
NASA believes the DART mission will be an active planetary defense, at least to fend off collisions between asteroids and Earth.
"If there is an asteroid that poses a threat to Earth, you'll want to do this technique years or decades in advance," said Nancy Chabot, planetary scientist and chief coordinating officer for DART.
"You will only give this asteroid a small push, which will add a big change to its position in the future, then the asteroid and Earth will not collide," he continued.
DART is a spacecraft with the task of crashing into a small asteroid orbiting a larger asteroid. The hope is that the impact of the collision can change the path of a large asteroid so it doesn't hit Earth.
So far, NASA has identified more than 27,000 near-Earth asteroids, 10,000 of which are more than 140 meters in size. This size is capable of causing large regional damage.
DART is scheduled to launch on November 24 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA. The $330 million mission will be assisted by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.
"Asteroids are complex, different, have big rocks. There are rocky parts, but some are smooth. This asteroid is also a strange shape, all kinds are there. That's why we need DART," he concluded.
