Space truly is the last frontier for humanity. Rivaling Elon Musk’s efforts to colonize Mars, NASA’s latest endeavor called DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) plans to save the Earth! Earth itself sits inside our solar system in a place known as the “habitable zone.” This zone must have a planet just the right amount away from a star to have running water. Scientists theorize that an oxygen rich atmosphere is vital as well, but our investigation of the universe is still in its infancy stage, until now.
The Earth serendipitously formed inside the large asteroid belt beyond Mars and being one of the innermost planets to the Sun, it’s in an incredibly secure position. Despite all of these built-in contingencies, Earth has been no stranger to impacts over its lifetime. Therefore, humanitarian efforts like the Mars colonization project, as well as the DART program are so vital. The only way to fully ensure humanity’s survival is to become an interplanetary, type-1 civilization.
What Does DART hope to Accomplish for NASA?
The recent blockbuster hit ‘Don’t Look Up’ was about what humanity would do in the case of a planet-killer asteroid that was hurtling toward earth. This film had many Earthling’s pondering the question of, how would we survive something like this. NASA’s plan to answer this question definitively began with the DART program’s strategic impact on the Dimorphos asteroid on Monday, September 26th, 2022.
The ten-month expedition of the DART spacecraft carefully orbited so that it would align to the moderately-sized asteroid precisely when its extensive cycle brought it close. Although the trajectory was not on a collision course with Earth, if it had, NASA’s goal of altering its trajectory 1% would’ve meant humanity got to see another sunrise. When interviewed about the successful impact, Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer said, “DART’s success provides a significant addition to the essential toolbox we must have to protect Earth from a devastating impact by an asteroid.” The depths of space hold many mysteries and potential threats. However, this mission’s conclusion is an inspiration for a future when our prolonged existence as a species is safely assured!
What Comes Next for Space Defense?
Another space project that recently launched is the U.S. Space Force’s early warning defense satellite system which launched in February of 2022. These satellites mostly focus on local, more terrestrial threats. They do double as a security system for the heavens as well. Between now and the end of 2023, SpaceX plans to ease into more commercial space flights, which will inch us closer to large-scale commercial expeditions. Once we can assure that humanity is predominantly safe, we can begin the mission to colonize Mars. After this is done, and knock on wood that this doesn’t happen, humanity will be safe from the Earth itself if it were to experience a cataclysmic shift.
Not to feed into any ominous predictions, but the Earth has a history of shifting quite frequently when seen through the scope of its entire lifetime. Our beloved planet Earth’s cycles are indifferent to its inhabitants. Take, for example, the ice age, super volcanoes, mud-floods, dust-bowls, shifting magnetic poles, and hurricanes. As if we needed more to exemplify how at risk we humans are here on our home planet. NASA’s DART Expedition is a necessary and monumental step for humanity’s future. Now that we are locking down our home defense system, the time has nearly come for humanity to become interplanetary and ascend into the secure reality of a type-1 civilization.
By Triston Bowman
Sources:
Nasa.gov: NASA’s DART Mission Hits Asteroid in First- Ever Planetary Defense Test
Space.com: Meteor showers and shooting stars: Formation and history
Astronomy.com: Why the asteroid threat should be taken seriously
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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