NASA rocket hits asteroid to test technique

The DART rocket hit its mark Monday, smacking into a harmless asteroid in space as part of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test. DART is testing Earth’s defenses if an asteroid presented a threat to the planet. The asteroid was about seven million miles away from earth and around the size of a football stadium. The rocket slammed into it to try to push it off track, creating a crater on its surface. NASA anticipates an orbital shift of one percent—which sounds small but could make a huge difference over years. The mission’s budget was $325 million.

Why didn’t they destroy the asteroid? DART Investigation team leader Andrew Rivkin said NASA didn’t want to blast the asteroid into tiny pieces. He said that if it really was heading toward Earth, those pieces could still pierce the atmosphere and rain down on it. The smaller pieces are also harder to track than one large asteroid. DART couldn’t have blasted it, anyway: The rocket was about 1,260 pounds compared to the asteroid’s 11 billion pounds. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Les Sillar’s report in Doubletake on how Christians through the ages have responded to UFOs.