A spacecraft is currently en route to explore an asteroid that NASA successfully knocked off course in 2022. The Hera spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10:52 AM local time (15:52 BST) on Monday.
This launch is part of an international mission to assess Earth’s ability to deflect potentially dangerous asteroids. The mission aims to study the aftermath of NASA’s intentional collision with the asteroid Dimorphos, analyzing how the space rock’s trajectory was altered.
Two cube-shaped probes will also investigate the composition and mass of the asteroid.
“We need to understand the physical properties of these asteroids. What are they made of? Are they blocks of rock, or do they contain sand inside?” says Naomi Murdoch, a scientist involved with the European Space Agency mission.
This research will aid scientists in developing effective strategies to intercept various asteroids, which come in different sizes and shapes. Currently, experts do not believe we face an immediate risk of a dinosaur-style extinction from an asteroid impact, as large asteroids can be easily detected in space.
The asteroids targeted by NASA’s DART and the Hera mission measure approximately 100-200 meters wide and are challenging to observe from Earth. Occasionally, smaller asteroids collide with our planet. In 2013, a house-sized asteroid exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia, creating a shockwave that shattered windows over an area of more than 200 square miles and injured over 1,600 people.
Scientists aspire to identify similar asteroids in the future and potentially divert their paths.
“Our goal isn’t to prevent human extinction, but to establish a system that minimizes damage as much as possible. The dinosaurs didn’t have a space program, but we do,” states Prof. Murdoch.
However, scientists caution that although NASA has demonstrated it is possible to alter the course of one asteroid, this does not guarantee that all space rocks can be similarly diverted. Successfully intercepting an asteroid before it collides with Earth also depends on detecting the incoming threat early.
