elon musk reveals a killer asteroid zooming to earth what to expect from the dart asteroid
deflector mission by nasa a plan to defend earth against asteroids will soon undergo its first test
by nasa as part of a planetary defense test a nasa spacecraft known as dart is going to purposefully
collide with an asteroid although this space rock is not a concern the information we gather from
the mission may be useful if an asteroid were to ever approach us how big is this well let's find
out while elon musk will update us all hello everyone welcome back to elon musk evolution
where we bring you the most recent news about elon musk and his multi-billion dollar companies
but before we begin make sure you subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon so you don't miss
out on any of our amazing videos and let's dive in in 2017 astronomers predicted that japan might be
struck by an asteroid the size of a cruise ship within the next 10 years at the annual planetary
defense meeting in tokyo scientists and government representatives from nasa and other space agencies
quickly came up with a plan to divert the asteroid from its course toward earth a fleet of robotic
spacecraft that would launch in the following few years would determine the fate of the island
the international space agencies came together in 2020 and launched four ships in the direction of
the dangerous space rock the so-called kinetic impactor ships made direct contact with their
objectives japan cities and neighborhoods were spare total destruction saving the country from
a monumental evacuation effort none of these things actually occurred it was a simulation
similar to the frequent tabletop role-playing games that officials engage in and at these
drills deflecting an asteroid from outer space on its approach to a disastrous collision with earth
has emerged as the preferred option for safeguarding the planet however nobody is
certain if the method will actually be effective no attempt has ever been made by humans to deflect
an asteroid from our planet according to musk the 28 000 nearest asteroids that nasa monitors
do not yet constitute a threat to earth however as asteroids are discovered by astronomers on
average every year it's possible that we'll one day discover one bearing our name we're not simply
sitting ducks though thanks to the planned dart attempt to divert a harmless asteroid
don't look up a recent netflix movie presented as a parable for the denial of climate change while
also serving as a warning about the potential dangers of impending asteroids
ask the dinosaurs please the president launches a mission to use nuclear weapons to destroy the
asteroid during the movie which is typical of how hollywood handles such situations scientists have
demonstrated that nuclear weapons may be able to destroy dangerous asteroids in the real world but
a small fragment of the debris may still strike earth nasa is imagining a more sophisticated
method one that leans a little more towards jiu jitsu instead of this bare knuckle boxing strategy
nasa's planetary defense coordination office would attempt to alter an asteroid's orbital course and
redirect it away from the earth's path rather than slam it to pieces a mission to test this
hypothesis is nasa's 308 million dollar double asteroid redirection test or dart on september
26th a 1 376 pound probe will attempt to collide with a small asteroid at a speed of about 15
000 miles per hour dimorphous a minor asteroid is not dangerous to earth but by changing its
orbital track nasa will have successfully tested a method for deploying kinetic impactors to push
potentially harmful asteroids out of the way the project intends to change the orbit of dimorphous
an asteroid that orbits didimus a little bigger asteroid musk explained developed by teams at the
johns hopkins applied physics laboratory dart is nasa's first planetary defense test mission
that's apl apl was designed by nasa's planetary defense coordination office to oversee the project
but numerous other organizations including nasa goddard space flight center johnson space center
the jet propulsion laboratory the european space agency and the italian space agency also made
significant contributions on november 24th 2021 dart was sent into orbit by a spacex falcon 9.
after traveling 6.8 million miles to get to diddy muss the spacecraft was reaching the end of its
11-month trip on september 26 at 7 14 pm dart is predicted to reach its destination e.t at which
point it will collect with dimorphous destroying itself but perhaps shifting the asteroid's course
dart needs to do three course correction adjustments in the latter three weeks of the
trip to stay on course according to nasa the final these maneuvers will take place about 24 hours
before the impact at which point the navigation team will be able to pinpoint dimorphous location
to an accuracy of 1.24 miles dart self-driving navigation system known as smart nav will then
direct it in the direction of its destination the 5 250 foot wide dimorphous in the 2 650 foot wide
diddy miss are said to be distinguished by smart nav in order to avoid any confusion at the scene
will we get to witness the impact elon musk says yes there will be many eyes on earth and in space
intently observing the experiment by virtue of its lone scientific tool the diddy must reconnaissance
and asteroid camera for optical navigation darts will offer a point of view perspective
of its demise this camera sometimes referred to as draco transmits data to smart nav and
will take pictures of the binary pair as dart approaches on july 27th draco photographed the
couple from a distance of 20 million miles away moreover thanks to the light italian cubesat for
imaging asteroids or alicia cube we'll have front row seats for the event high-resolution
color photographs will be captured from a secure distance by its two on-board cameras luke and leia
nasa's ground-based telescopes and radar here on earth will keep a careful eye on the situation
esa's s-track network which has dish antennas in australia and argentina will be used to track the
experiment at resolutions up to several hundred meters the planned hera mission which is a joint
nasa and esa effort will launch a probe in 2024 to investigate the impact's long-term repercussions
and perhaps get a peek of dimorphous new crater musk stated two cubesats will travel on board
hera with it the rotation and course of the moonlet will be monitored by scientists in
the months and years after the impact to see if there have been any changes at six
o'clock pm on september 26th nasa tv will start broadcasting live coverage of the dart experiment
at 7 14 pm eastern time the impact should happen on nasa tv nasa youtube nasa facebook
and nasa twitter live coverage will be broadcast while robotic ground-based telescopes attempt to
observe the impact the virtual telescope project will also offer live coverage of the event
the four main goals outlined by the space agency are to successfully demonstrate a kinetic impact
with dimorphous alter its orbital trajectory use ground-based telescopes to monitor changes in
dimorphous orbital period and measure the impacts physical effects such as debris ejecting from the
asteroid but ultimately it's a trial run for planetary defense tactics according to nasa
dart's target asteroid is not a threat to earth but is the perfect testing ground to see if this
asteroid deflection technique known as the kinetic impactor technique would be a practical way to
protect our planet if an asteroid on a collision course with earth were discovered in the future
didimas antimorphis do not currently threaten earth and will not do so after dart this system
was chosen by nasa because it is an example of the similar binary pairs that may be found across the
solar system and because it's thought to be the best candidate for such a test according to nasa
the collision will alter the speed of the moonlet and its orbit around the main body by a fraction
of one percent but this will alter the moonlit's orbital period by several minutes enough to be
observed and measured using telescopes on earth and just to be clear according to musk there is
no immediate threat to earth from a huge asteroid at least for the next 100 years and that'll end
today's video what do you think of today's episode will nasa be successful in destroying the asteroid
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