News NASA and ESA plan their first test of an active planetary defense system in 2022 comes on the heels of predictions a planet killing asteroid named 2012 DA14 is coming our way in 2020.
Will this be a case of too little, too late? Nobody wants to find out but this is also a case of better late than never. That doesn't sound right, either.
The asteroid project is a joint mission of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) called Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA).
NASA plans to send a probe crashing into an asteroid at more than 13,000 miles per hour to see if this impact can throw it off its course. This direct impact option is one in a series of planetary defenses being considered to defend Planet Earth from the "Big One" and other dangerous "Near Earth Objects" or NEOs.
An impact by a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) asteroid on the Earth has historically caused an extinction-level event due to catastrophic damage to the biosphere.
While the chances of a major asteroid or NEO impact aren't that great in the near term, there's a high probability a hit by a massive NEO will eventually occur unless planetary defensive actions are taken.
The test against an asteroid named "Didymoon" will be the first ever directed against an NEO. The plan first calls for ESA to launch its Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) probe in 2020.
AIM will journey to an asteroid named Didymos being orbited by Didymoon, a 550 foot-wide asteroid. It will orbit Didymoon for about a year mapping its surface and collecting data on its mass and overall structure.
AIM might send a pair of smaller satellites to collect more data. It might also land a probe on Didymoon.
In 2021, NASA will launch a 660 pound probe named the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) towards Didymoon. The probe will be commanded to crash into Didymoon at a speed of over 13,000 miles per hour.
NASA expects the massive impact to change the path of Didymoon's orbit. AIM will observe DART's impact on Didymoon and continue to collect data on the physics of redirecting asteroids in space.
AIDA will be the first time such a collision will be conducted solely to help experts determine how to move asteroids around in space.
Apart from this direct impact on an asteroid, another deflection option is detonating a nuclear device above, on, or slightly beneath the surface of the NEO.
Of immediate concern to scientists is Asteroid 2012 DA14. While this asteroid has less than a one percent chance of smashing into the Earth, scientists can't rule out the possibility of a hit in 2020.
"The orbit for 2012 DA14 is currently very Earth-like, which means it will be very close to Earth on a regular basis," said Paul Chodas, a planetary astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA also recently revealed disturbing new data showing 400 asteroid impacts are expected between 2017 and 2113 based on new data about objects seen in space in August 2014.