![]() The team will now use ground-based telescopes to confirm that DART's impact altered Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos. When it comes to sufficiently large asteroids, atmospheric pressure can burn their outer core but a significant part of these asteroids will still hit the Earth and cause damage. "At least for the next century, there is no such threat from the known asteroids that can cause mass casualties," said Karthick, adding that this risk assessment is, however, based on the asteroids known to science so far.Įarth is usually hit by small asteroids all the time which are burned in the air due to atmospheric pressure. There is always a possibility that a big one might be headed towards us and the question becomes, what would be our approach and how we could mitigate that? That's why these programs are important," Chattopadhyay told PTI. "However, the probability of that is non-zero and we must always be vigilant. However, scientist also asserts that most asteroids with huge size and a potential to damage or impact the Earth, have a very less chance of hitting the planet. Large asteroids have less chance of hitting Earth The idea is, if we can encounter these asteroids whose trajectory is towards us and we do that at a sufficient distance from the Earth, then a minor deflection will be enough to change the path of the asteroid," he added. "DART is an experimental mission to try out the concept of deflecting an asteroid. Senior scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Goutam Chattopadhyay noted that the mission will help to prepare for future-threatening asteroids. NASA used a technique called kinetic impact and successfully navigated the spacecraft to intentionally collide with the asteroid to deflect it. The asteroid that led to the extinction of dinosaurs was 10 kilometers in diameter. Practically, both the asteroids don't posses any threat to earth. We can also prepare ourselves for the larger body from the post-impact observations of this DART mission," Karthick told PTI.ĭART mission was a one-way trip by NASA to destroy asteroid Dimorphos which actually revolve around a bigger asteroid Didymos, which is 780 meters in diameter. ![]() We now know to precisely aim the spacecraft for such a small body. "This successful DART mission is an example of that. Karthick, who is involved in the DART project, noted that the mission "certainly is a step towards" preparing the world for a potential future event like the one which is believed to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs some 66 million years ago. Hence, It is better to prepare our defenses to avoid such asteroids on a collision course with Earth in the future," said Chrisphin Karthick, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru. Very few of them are potentially hazardous to Earth. "We are surrounded by several asteroids and comets that orbit our Sun.
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