The Day NASA Smashed an Asteroid: What It Was Like Inside Mission Control

Around 66 cardinal years ago, a monolithic asteroid stretching 6 miles (10 kilometers) crossed struck Earth, ending the reign of the dinosaurs. Today, the probability of an asteroid that size wiping retired humanity is rather low, but determination are thousands of smaller abstraction rocks lurking astir Earth’s orbit susceptible of destroying full cities, and those person a higher accidental of crashing into our planet. The occupation is, we don’t truly person a viable program of defense.

In September 2022, a NASA spacecraft crashed into a city-killer-sized asteroid to somewhat nudge it disconnected its orbital people and trial kinetic interaction arsenic a means of planetary defence should an asteroid beryllium headed our way. NASA’s DART ngo (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) was a success, proving that we whitethorn basal a accidental against the flying piles of rubble.

In his caller book, How to Kill An Asteroid, award-winning subject writer Robin Andrews offers a uncommon idiosyncratic look astatine the improvement of the mission, the squad that made it happen, and what it was similar to beryllium wrong the ngo power country erstwhile the asteroid got smacked. The publication leans into the sci-fi phantasy facet of the mission, detailing each the chill subject portion inactive delivering drama, humor, and a large radical of characters.

Gizmodo: What got you funny successful the DART mission?

Robin Andrews: I’m a volcanologist by training. So, I emotion penning astir volcanoes, earthquakes, oregon thing that’s benignant of dramatic, Earth-shifting worldly that makes you consciousness small—stuff that truly benignant of affects america successful a much literal way. There’s thing truly much literal than thing successful the star strategy coming to clang into us.

I covered DART’s launch, and I was amazed that much people, adjacent wrong NASA, weren’t making a bigger woody with it, due to the fact that it felt truthful popular culture. I grew up watching Armageddon and Deep Impact arsenic a nerdy kid, and I knew a batch of it was a spot silly, but like, the thought of asteroids and things crashing into the satellite felt truthful real. It’s a existent danger, but it felt truly weird that NASA wasn’t making a overmuch bigger woody retired of it.

It conscionable struck maine arsenic weird that that benignant of taxable of planetary defence hadn’t been covered that much, truthful I’d felt truly anserine if I didn’t transportation it.

Gizmodo: Did you program connected penning a publication astir the DART ngo from the start?

Andrews: It was done covering it. I deliberation the happening that truly fascinated maine successful peculiar is that astir spacecraft NASA and others build, they privation to unrecorded for arsenic agelong arsenic possible. They person this 8 minutes of panic connected Mars erstwhile [the rovers] onshore and determination are obituaries for spacecraft that die. But the constituent of this spacecraft was to die; if it missed and it kept living, past they had messed up. So determination was this weird inversion of what radical expect and it conscionable felt precise dramatic.

Gizmodo: There’s truthful overmuch wit successful your book. Did that conscionable travel naturally?

Andrews: Sometimes erstwhile you talk to scientists for agelong enough, they benignant of get much comfy and I conscionable got the consciousness that astir of them are rather goofy. I deliberation I truly link with radical similar that anyway, and it doesn’t substance who they are, whether they’re a writer oregon a scientist. If they don’t instrumentality themselves that seriously, I deliberation I ever get connected with them. So it felt a batch easier to gaffe into the goofiness erstwhile you saw a motion of it.

Gizmodo: How did this real-life NASA ngo comparison to immoderate of the movies that represent asteroid collisions?

Andrews: It was ace surreal, and it felt much sci-fi to immoderate grade alternatively than conscionable consecutive science. I emotion science, obviously—I’m a large monolithic geek. But it struck maine however the subject successful the ngo was comparatively straightforward to conscionable let them to bash thing comparatively simple, arsenic successful punch an asteroid.

Gizmodo: What was it similar to beryllium wrong ngo power during that time?

Andrews: It was amazing. Honestly, I had a feeling we’d deed it, but having spoken to them passim and uncovering retired that, actually, determination were points down the scenes wherever they were not arsenic assured arsenic the authoritative statements were portraying, determination were malfunctions connected the spacecraft and things similar that.

No substance however definite idiosyncratic says that they’re gonna bash something, if someone’s ne'er done this before, you deliberation thing could hap astatine this point. And it was decently exhilarating. I’m not massively into sports, but the buzz successful that country was amended than immoderate sports crippled anyone has invited maine to. There was truthful overmuch riding connected this 1 thing, and each the engineers looked truthful pale, white, nervous. You couldn’t marque it up however melodramatic it was—they lone had 1 changeable to bash this.

You’re meant to beryllium nonsubjective to these things but you couldn’t assistance but get wrapped up successful it a bit. I’ve ne'er seen radical jumping up and down and screaming truthful much.

Gizmodo: What were the astir challenging parts of the mission?

Andrews: I deliberation conscionable getting the ngo disconnected the ground. It’s astonishing that they adjacent managed to money this mission. It mightiness beryllium similar the abstraction debris problem; you conscionable ideate that an astronaut is gonna get killed by a spot of flying debris oregon a portion of a rocket is gonna onshore connected someone’s house, and possibly past idiosyncratic volition bash something.

It struck maine arsenic precise unusual that planetary defence was considered the aforesaid arsenic planetary subject for rather a agelong time. I can’t retrieve who said it, but idiosyncratic was like, “Oh, planetary subject is large but it’s pointless if we’re each dead.”

Gizmodo: And you’re not conscionable talking astir asteroids that would hitch retired the full planet, but smaller asteroids that tin inactive origin important damage?

Andrews: Yeah, I deliberation that was different happening that made maine truly privation to constitute this book. There’s truthful overmuch written, fabrication and non-fiction, astir the satellite killers, but these metropolis killers—they travel retired of obscurity and origin harm to a random spot connected Earth. As idiosyncratic who wrote astir volcanoes for truthful long, you tin ne'er halt those from erupting but you tin conscionable sound [asteroids] away.

Gizmodo: Who bash you anticipation reads this book?

Andrews: There’s a clip for fashionable subject to truly get into the nitty gritty of the subject and those books are large arsenic well. But I person this feeling that determination are a batch of fashionable subject books that extremity with a connection of, “well, we’re each screwed, I guess,” which I understand. It’s important to underscore that. But [DART] is specified a realistic, optimistic thing, and due to the fact that the characters are truthful kooky and the full thought of the ngo is truthful popular culture, I conscionable privation it to scope younger readers. I anticipation it convinces them that subject is cool. It’s bully to person a feel-good communicative for once.