NASA and ESA are preparing to project the Earth

The US Space Agency, NASA, and the European Space Agency ESA, have joined forces to protect the planet in the event of a possible threat from outer space, from the many asteroids in the solar system.

This collaboration was announced as early as 2012, when the two agencies presented an action plan for monitoring dangerous asteroids near Earth. This project received the name Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA), and this year scientists from the two space agencies began observations on a binary asteroid system, 65803 Didymos, formed by a small asteroid orbiting one. bigger.

In this project, the methods of action will be tested by launching two space probes towards 65803 Didymos, an ESA probe and a NASA one. The first of these, the Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), belonging to ESA, will be launched in 2020 and will go to 65803 Didymos to study the orbit and composition of the two asteroids in the system. Then, in 2022 NASA will launch the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission , and once it reaches the DART projectile probe target, it will be targeted for a controlled collision with the smaller asteroid in this duo, dubbed "Didymoon

The AIM probe will monitor the impact of the DART probe and transmit the data obtained to Earth through a laser communications link.

Didymoon is only 160 feet in diameter, and NASA and ESA want to look at how the impact with the DART probe will affect Didymoon's orbit and ultimately calculate how much force it would take to divert a dangerous asteroid from Earth. his trajectory. The largest asteroid diameter in the system, Didymos, is 800 meters.

The trajectory of 65803 Didymos does not threaten the Earth, and the specialists of NASA and ESA assure us that there is no danger that this impact experiment will change its trajectory and thus become a threat to the planet.

In order to protect the Earth from such collisions we need to be able to understand the asteroids much better said Patrick Michel, AIM team leader at the European Congress of Planetary Sciences held at the end of September

In order to protect the Earth from such collisions we need to be able to understand the asteroids much better," said Patrick Michel, AIM team leader, at the European Congress of Planetary Sciences held at the end of September.

Deviating the course of an asteroid by colliding with a projectile probe or even a nuclear missile is one of the ideas proposed to avoid a collision with the Earth. NASA and ESA are also discussing other variants, including the "gravity tractor", the deflection with the help of ionic beams or even with giant magnets sent into space to meet potential dangers