At about 7:15 a.m. Manila time last Sept. 27, the world witnessed live on CNN and other channels the crash of a $330-million spacecraft on an asteroid in outer space. This was done to ascertain if the impact can alter the course of asteroids that could someday hit the earth.
The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) launched this DART probe, shorthand for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, in “the first-of-its-kind maneuver on a small and harmless space rock known as Dimorphos, which is about 6.8 million miles from Earth.” The “partner” asteroid called Didamos, is nearly five times larger, and is orbiting close to Dimorphos.
As reported by The Guardian, “The aim of this kamikaze science mission is straightforward: Space engineers want to learn how to deflect asteroids in case one is ever discovered on a collision course with Earth. Observations of DART’s impact on Dimorphos’s orbit will provide crucial data about how well spacecraft can protect Earth from asteroid armageddon,” they say. According to astronomers, asteroids have hit the earth in the past and it is important to stop or forestall such occurrence.
NASA’s expenditure of $330 million may well be within the federal government’s financial capability and aligned with the agency’s thrust to ensure that the US stays ahead of the curve in terms of dealing with complex scenarios. But this development seems to be tangential to the challenges posed by the current global situation.
As NASA monitored in real time the DART probe’s journey and eventual crash on Dimorphos from its mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, there was another activity going on about 210 miles away in New York City.