The DART spacecraft will hit a binary asteroid system in the first planetary defense test of its kind.
This Monday, September 26, NASA will conduct its first planetary defense test when the DART probe crashes into a binary asteroid .
Didymos and Dimorphos do not represent any danger to Earth, but the space agency wants to know if it is possible to divert these types of stars in case of a global emergency.
DART vs. Dimorphos: Who will win?
Didymos and Dimorphos are 11 million kilometers from the planet and have 750 and 150 meters in diameter.
Dimorphos behaves like a moon with Didymos, orbiting it as they wander through space.
NASA will crash DART (Double Asteroid Redirection) on Dimorphos to change its speed, altering its orbital period in conditions that are waiting to be measured from Earth. In short, it will divert the asteroid from its usual path.
DART, built by the Johns Hopkins University Physics Laboratory, will not survive the impact.
How to see it live?
To see the planetary defense test, we just need to join the official NASA stream this Monday, September 26.
For Peru, the impact time is at 18:14. However, the transmission will start at 4:30 p.m. and will last until 7:00 p.m. to see the final report of the day.