science

Asteroid shock: ESA crusade to save humanity from space rocks backed by Queen's Brian May


Thus, Mr May was the voice on a European Space Agency (ESA) video explaining NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) and ESA’s Hera mission. The two are expected to help scientists learn if it is possible to redirect asteroids at risk of a deadly collision with Earth. Mr May explains: “Hera is going to show us things no one has ever seen before, this ESA mission will be humanity’s first spacecraft to visit a double asteroid, Didymos.

“This asteroid is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to our planet. Imagine a mountain in the sky, with another rock, about the size of the Great Pyramid swinging around it.

“That’s Didymos. And just the seemingly tiny moon, would be big enough to destroy a city if it were to collide with the Earth. But we’re going to find out if it’s possible to deflect it, this is going to be really, really hard.”

Didymos is expected to still be 3.7 million miles away from our planet in November 2123.

Mr May noted the logistical difficulty of the distance: “Aiming at a 160m wide target across millions of kilometres of void, could we stop an asteroid hitting planet Earth?

“The dinosaurs couldn’t but we humans have the benefit of knowledge and science on our side.”

The DART test is expected to take place in summer 2021 with the craft set for launch next year.

Mr May added: “Right now, all we have is many years of research and theories but Hera will revolutionise our understanding of asteroids.”

DART will smash into Didymoon, the smaller of the two asteroids.

READ MORE: NASA shutdown SpaceX’s Elon Musk’s fear of deadly collision 

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has previously warned against a potential explosion.

He said: “We have to make sure that people understand that this is not about Hollywood, it’s not about the movies.

“This is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know, right now, to host life – and that is the planet Earth.”

An asteroid collision is believed to be responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Scientific theory points to a comet or asteroid between six and nine miles in length that hit 66 million years ago.

It is believed that the hit wiped out three-quarters of plant and animal species in a mass extinction.

No tetrapods weighing more than 55lb survived with the exception of some ectothermic species such as crocodiles and the leatherback sea turtle.

Tetrapods are animals with four limbs.

Ectothermic species are cold-blooded and their body temperature relies on external sources rather than psychological systems.



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