The European Space Agency announced this week that it is in the early stages of "from the asteroid impact and deflection mission" with its U.S. partner Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The ultimate goal of the mission is whether scientists can collide with an asteroid hurtling through space is - to avoid any possible impact with Earth.
"The concepts are sought for the two surveys on the ground and in space, seeking a better understanding of the physics of high-speed collisions of objects both man-made and natural space," wrote the ESA in a statement.
The final plan is for scientists shuttle off two small satellites in 2020 in pursuit of a binary asteroid 2625 feet called Didymus 65,803, according to The Verge. Didymos is traveling coast to coast with a small double 500 feet asteroid.Using the smallest asteroid target practice, the scientists point out one of the spaceships and flying rock collision with it. The other spacecraft will be in charge of surveying the damage and see if the impact has changed the course of asteroids twins.
"Both missions better when put together - get a lot more of the total investment," asteroid impact ESA and study leader deviation Mission in a statement on the benefits of the use of two satellites . "And the vast amounts of data from the joint should help validate various theories, such as our modeling of the impact."
The possibility of an asteroid crashing into the Earth is not really that far out of an idea. In 2004, NASA scientists have discovered a massive asteroid 22 million tons was on track to hit the planet in 2029. However, after extensive research, scientists have concluded Earth was safe from an impact scenario. NASA recently dismissed another possible asteroid collision with Earth in 2036.
