Armageddon in real life: 24 years later, NASA saves the Earth without Bruce Willis!

The asteroid is heading toward Earth at a speed of 35,000 kilometers per hour. Harry S. Stamper, a major oil drilling specialist, is recruited by the director of NASA to try to destroy him. He and his team of hotheads will have to land on an asteroid and place a nuclear charge in its heart. Then begins the necessary training of astronauts and the study of space tools…

After reading the above synopsis, you’ll definitely know the story of Michael Bay’s Armageddon, in which Bruce Willis, jaw-dropped, wet-eyed and more determined than ever, leads a team of kamikazes on a mission with nothing at stake. than the future of mankind. SF mixed with action that reeked of the 90s.

Except that after 24 years, such an initiative is no longer science fiction at all, but has become a reality. In October 2021, NASA’s DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) aims to use a spacecraft to attempt to deviate the trajectory of a celestial body.

To do this, scientists from the American space agency first targeted a binary asteroid system: the asteroid Didymos, which is about 780 meters, and its moon Dimorphos. These asteroids are located at a distance of 11 million kilometers from the Earth.

The DART spacecraft, which weighs 550 kg, landed last night on Dimorphos, which is only 163 m in diameter. The impact was filmed live that night at over 20,000 km/h. Great success then. “We’ve entered a new era where we potentially have the ability to protect ourselves from a dangerous asteroid strike.”said Laurie Glass, NASA’s director of planetary sciences.

If potential clashes between Near-Earth Asteroids And the earth is very weak, they remain a threat. In 2013 in Russia, meteor shower Among them, a 19-meter asteroid fell in the Chelyabinsk region, 1,500 km east of Moscow, injuring almost 1,500 people.