Presto, una navicella spaziale si schianterà contro un asteroide: è il nuovo progetto della NASA per scoprire come deviare eventuali oggetti in rotta di collisione contro la Terra. Mancano poche settimane ad uno schianto grandioso: stiamo parlando di quello che vedrà protagonista una navicella spaziale, pronta ad immolarsi intercettando l’orbita di un grande asteroide. Ma niente paura, è tutto sotto controllo. Si tratta infatti di un esperimento organizzato sin nei minimi dettagli dalla NASA, e l’obiettivo ha un sapore decisamente fantascientifico.
Neanche un anno fa, Leonardo Di Caprio e Jennifer Lawrence hanno portato sul grande schermo l’ultimo film di una lunga serie dedicata ad asteroidi e comete enormi che si schiantano sulla Terra. Don’t look up ha riacceso in tutti noi l’atavico timore di una minaccia che arrivi dallo spazio e che possa spazzare via completamente l’umanità. Cosa succederebbe se, in futuro, gli astronomi individuassero un oggetto pronto ad entrare in rotta di collisione con il nostro pianeta? Per rispondere a questa domanda, la NASA ha messo a punto un esperimento davvero particolare.
Tra qualche settimana, la navicella spaziale robotica DART – dal costo di ben 330 milioni di dollari – si schianterà deliberatamente contro un asteroide. La sonda, realizzata per il progetto Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART, per l’appunto), sta viaggiando nello spazio ormai da mesi e ha come obiettivo un corpo celeste già ben conosciuto dagli astronomi, chiamato Dimorphos. Secondo quanto previsto dagli esperti, lo schianto dovrebbe avvenire nelle prime ore del 27 settembre 2022, ad una velocità di circa 4 miglia al secondo (ovvero più di 6mila metri al secondo).
Così facendo, gli scienziati hanno intenzione di capire se è possibile deviare la rotta di un asteroide: se in futuro dovessimo scoprirne uno pronto a schiantarsi contro la Terra, avremo una risorsa in più per evitarlo. Tutto è stato progettato con la massima attenzione, a partire dall’obiettivo scelto per la missione. Dimorphos è infatti un asteroide-satellite di circa 160 metri che orbita attorno ad un asteroide ben più grande, Didymos. Dopo lo schianto, la NASA potrà analizzare più facilmente la deflessione del corpo celeste, basandosi sul suo percorso attorno all’asteroide principale.
Come anticipato, l’obiettivo del nuovo progetto della NASA è scoprire se, con uno schianto programmato, si possa deviare un asteroide (o un altro corpo celeste) in rotta di collisione contro la Terra. “Sappiamo che gli asteroidi ci hanno colpito in passato. Questi impatti sono un processo naturale e accadranno di nuovo in futuro” – ha spiegato il professor Alan Fitzsimmons, astronomo presso la Queen’s University di Belfast – “Vorremmo fermare quelli più pericolosi. Il problema è che non abbiamo mai testato la tecnologia necessaria per farlo. Questo è lo scopo di DART”.
In effetti, nella storia del nostro pianeta ci sono stati alcuni schianti che hanno avuto un impatto disastroso. Come quello avvenuto 66 milioni di anni fa: un enorme asteroide largo 10 km ha colpito Chicxulub, in Messico, dando vita ad un’esplosione pari a diversi miliardi di bombe atomiche. Secondo i calcoli degli esperti, sarebbe stata proprio questa la causa dell’estinzione dei dinosauri, assieme alla distruzione di gran parte delle forme di vita all’epoca presenti sulla Terra. Oggi, ovviamente, un asteroide di tali dimensioni non passerebbe inosservato e saremmo pronti ad un eventuale schianto con larghissimo anticipo.
“Sappiamo dove si trovano i grandi asteroidi, e sappiamo che nessuno di quelli rilevati si avvicinerà al nostro pianeta per i prossimi 200 anni circa” – ha affermato Fitzsimmons. Tuttavia, ci sono corpi celesti molto più piccoli che ancora non sono stati identificati, e che potrebbero in futuro colpire la Terra. Alcuni di essi, nonostante le dimensioni ridotte, potrebbero causare gravi danni e distruggere intere città: ecco perché l’esperimento della NASA è così importante. “DART è il primo passo per assicurarci di avere la tecnologia giusta per affrontare la minaccia”.
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