Deputy Head of NASA Thomas Zurbuchen said that there are no risks for the Earth to collide with asteroids known to scientists over the next 100 years.
A representative of the department told about this before the upcoming launch of the DART space probe to the Dimorph asteroid. He will have to crash into an asteroid to test the technology of protecting the Earth from a possible collision with a celestial body in the future.
“Be calm, this asteroid is not now and will not be a threat. None of the objects known to us today is a threat in the next 100 years or so,” Zurbuchen said. He noted that scientists currently know about 40 percent of objects larger than 140 square meters, and the remaining 60 percent have yet to be found.
Earlier it was reported that the DART spacecraft will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 22:20 Pacific time on November 23 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. If the launch takes place at this time, then the collision with the asteroid will occur in the period from September 26 to October 1 next year.
