A spacecraft named Dart will zero in on the asteroid Monday, intent on slamming it head-on at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). The impact should be just enough to nudge the asteroid into a slightly tighter orbit around its companion space rock — demonstrating that if a killer asteroid ever heads our way, we’d stand a fighting chance of diverting it.
Cameras and telescopes will watch the crash, but it will take months to find out if it actually changed the orbit. The $325 million planetary defense test began with Dart’s launch last fall.
ASTEROID TARGET
The asteroid with the bull’s eye on it is Dimorphos, about 7 million miles (9.6 million kilometers) from Earth. It is actually the puny sidekick of a 2,500-foot (780-meter) asteroid named Didymos, Greek for twin. Discovered in 1996, Didymos is spinning so fast that scientists believe it flung off material that eventually formed a moonlet. Dimorphos — roughly 525 feet (160 meters) across — orbits its parent body at a distance of less than a mile (1.2 kilometers).
“This really is about asteroid deflection, not disruption,” said Nancy Chabot, a planetary scientist and mission team leader at Johns Hopkins University, which is managing the effort. “This isn’t going to blow up the asteroid. It isn’t going to put it into lots of pieces.” Rather, the impact will dig out a crater tens of yards (meters) in size and hurl some 2 million pounds (1 million kilograms) of rocks and dirt into space.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Techlife News #569-Ausgabe von Techlife News.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Techlife News #569-Ausgabe von Techlife News.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY SAYS 'MISINFORMATION' FROM FOES IS A STRONG HEADWIND IT MUST FIGHT
The U.S offshore wind energy industry says it needs to fight back against disinformation being spread by opponents of wind farms.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMMERS OFFERING FAKE JOBS
Between finding openings, sending out your resume and interviewing, looking for a job is tough. Now a growing trend of scammers impersonating recruiters is making it even harder.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BODY AND MIND FOR THE END OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.
IN 'IBELIN' AND 'GRAND THEFT HAMLET,' VIDEO GAME REALMS DRAW FILMMAKERS WITH VIRTUAL CAMERAS
Film productions often wrestle with shifts in the weather, the threat of the crew going into overtime or the fading of a day’s light. Less common are concerns over the cast slipping off the top of a blimp.
RESEARCHERS SAY AN AI-POWERED TRANSCRIPTION TOOL USED IN HOSPITALS INVENTS THINGS NO ONE EVER SAID
Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its artificial intelligence-powered transcription tool Whisper as having near “human level robustness and accuracy.”
WORLD SERIES GAME 3 AVERAGES 13.64 MILLION.BEATS 'MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL'
The World Series beat “Monday Night Football” in the battle for television viewers.
FITNESS APP STRAVA GIVES AWAY LOCATION OF BIDEN, TRUMP AND OTHER LEADERS, FRENCH NEWSPAPER SAYS
An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde found that the highly confidential movements of U.S. President Joe Biden, presidential rivals Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and other world leaders can be easily tracked online through a fitness app that their bodyguards use.
GOOGLE'S MONEYMAKING MACHINE STILL PUMPING OUT MASSIVE PROFITS DESPITE MULTIPLE THREATS
Google is still thriving while the company navigates through a pivotal shift to artificial intelligence and battles regulators trying to topple its internet empire.
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. SAYS HE 'INTENDS TO SUE' ALL FUTURE EXECUTIVES WHO USE HIS AI REPLICA
Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t think Marvel executives would ever recreate his portrayal of Tony Stark using artificial intelligence. But if they did, he would lawyer up — even posthumously.
APPLE LAUNCHES THE IPHONE INTO THE AI ERA WITH FREE SOFTWARE UPDATE
Apple is releasing a free software update that will inject its first dose of artificial intelligence into its iPhone 16 lineup as the trendsetting company tries to catch up with technology’s latest craze.