NASA successfully tested the first planetary defense system in history - the DART kamikaze probe attacked an asteroid at a speed of 22,530 km/h

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was able to successfully

test the planetary defense system using the Double Asteroid Rendezvous Test (DART) space probe.

What is known

As planned, at 02:14 (EET) the spacecraft crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos. It is located 11 million km from Earth and orbits the larger asteroid Didymos. The purpose of the program is to prove that our planet has a theoretical chance to defend itself against a threat from outer space.

NASA says the test was successful andthe inhabitants of the Earth can sleep peacefully. The agency also joked that dinosaurs 65 million years ago did not have such a system, unlike humanity. The agency notes that the DART impact with the asteroid took place in the normal mode, so it was not necessary to resort to any of the backup plans, of which more than 20 were developed.

The space probe crashed into an asteroid at speed22,530 km/h. The impact is expected to shrink Dimorph's orbit. Before the collision, the orbital time around Didim was 11 hours 55 minutes. For NASA, it would be a success if this time was reduced by 73 seconds, but the agency hopes for a higher result - up to 10 minutes.

Since the period of revolution is about 12hours, we will learn about the results of the collision very soon. NASA is expected to share the test results before the end of this day. Also, the agency should publish photos of the space accident taken using the LICIACube cubesat. Images may appear before the end of this week, since the satellite does not have an antenna for fast transmission of data from space to Earth.