NASA faces the phantom threat of asteroids

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Posted Oct 1, 2022, 2:00 PM

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Successful mission for NASA’s American DART probe. It hit, as expected, the asteroid Dimorphos. The test aimed to ensure the ability to divert this type of cruiser in space. If the one reached was not threatening for the Earth, this is not the case for all. Space is infinite and infinitely dangerous. Wiping off a rain of killer pebbles from the sky is possible. Asteroids can measure up to 50 km in diameter.

While most disintegrate on contact with the atmosphere, just one can do colossal damage. In February 2013, one of these rocks from space fell in Siberia. It measured 17 meters in diameter for 7,000 tons. It crossed the atmosphere at the speed of 18 kilometers per second and caused by exploding in flight a blast effect equal to twenty times that of the Hiroshima bomb. The toll could have been heavier than the 1,600 injured and the buildings destroyed or damaged.

real danger

The threat is therefore taken very seriously. Remember that a meteorite is credited with the disappearance of the dinosaurs from the surface of the Earth 66 million years ago. The human would not resist it better. This is why the European Space Agency and NASA are working together to counter the risk of these killer asteroids from space. The thousands cruising more or less far from our planet are watched like milk on the fire. Even if the probabilities that they affect us remain low and if the possibilities of destroying them before impact are problematic.

La Story is a podcast from Les Echos presented by Pierrick Fay. This episode was recorded in January 2021. Editor-in-chief: Clémence Lemaistre. Guests: Florian Maussion and Anne Bauer (journalists at “Les Echos”). Directed by: Willy Ganne. Music: Théo Boulenger. Graphic identity: Upian. Photo: Shutterstock. Sounds: DisneyPixar, “Armageddon” (1998), “Deep Impact” (1998), Franceinfo, “Let’s live happily while waiting for death” by Pierre Desproges said by Dominique Rongvaux, “The adventures of Tintin – The mysterious star”, Ina .

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