Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Colin Lauva and I'm Alice Irazari. Spotlight uses a
special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter
where in the world they live. A small craft flies through space. Stars
shine bright in the darkness. Two large space rocks or asteroids float in the
distance. One asteroid slowly circles the other. The spacecraft, called dark rockets
towards the smaller asteroid. Dart goes faster and faster. Soon it is traveling
at over twenty two thousand kilometers an hour. It crashes into the side of
the asteroid. Dart blows apart. A cloud of dust and metal flies up
from the asteroid, and slowly this smaller asteroid begins to change direction. On
Earth, scientists watch the crash through the Darts cameras. When the camera stops,
they cheer, some hug each other. It is the first time humans
have tried to move a natural object in space, and it has worked.
But the crash is much more important than this experiment. A spacecraft like the
Dart may one day save the planet from destruction. Today's Spotlight is on the
Darts project and the future of planetary defense. Asteroids are not usually a danger
to the Earth. Small asteroids enter the Earth's atmosphere every day. Objects often
hit the Earth, but they are not large enough to do any damage or
These asteroids fall in places where no one lives. But asteroids come in many
different sizes. Some are only a meter across, some are larger than one
kilometer. If an asteroid this big were to hit the Earth, it would
cause a lot of destruction. Eric Christiansen is a scientist at the Catalina Sky
Survey. He helps find asteroids and other objects that could be dangerous. He
spoke to the University of Arizona News about these large asteroids. The force of
an object that size would cause global problems. It could cause plants and animals
to die out. It would lift a lot of dust and water into the
atmosphere. The effect would be like a nuclear winter. Less sunlight would reach
the ground for several years. It would change the global food supply. Even
smaller asteroids are dangerous. In nineteen hundred and eight, an asteroid fell over
an area in Russia called Tunguska. Instead of hitting the ground, it's exploded
in the air. Still, the asteroid did a lot of damage. It
destroyed over two thousand square kilometers of forest. Scientists suggest the explosion was as
powerful as the biggest nuclear bombs ever tested. Chuchen was a member of the
Shanyagear tribe. He was in the woods when the Tunguska asteroid fell. He
spoke to I Am Souslav about his experiences. The earth began to move and
shake. The wind hit our house and pushed it over. My body was
pushed down by sticks, but my head was fine. Then I saw a
wonder. Trees were falling, the branches were on fire. It became very
bright. How can I say this? It was as if there were a
second sun. My eyes were hurting. I even closed them. It was
like what the Russians call lightning. This explosion is known as the Tunguska event.
It is the biggest asteroid to hit the Earth in recent history, but
the Tunguska asteroid was not extremely big. Scientists believe it was about sixty five
meters across. Even events like Tunguska do not happen very often, but it
is important to protect against them. Over the years, scientists have mapped many
of the large asteroids. They know where they are and they can guess where
they are going, But scientists did not know if they could change where an
asteroid fell. They did not know the best way to do it. One
method scientists have discovered is called kinetic impact. A kinetic impact would mean pushing
an asteroid. Scientists would not have to push its month. A small push
in the right direction could make an asteroid avoid Earth. The DART project was
the world's first try at kinetic impact. It did not target an asteroid coming
toward Earth. Instead, DART was a test. In fact, the name
DART itself stands for double Asteroid Redirection Test. The rocket would fly toward a
large asteroid called Didymus. Once it came close, it would fly toward a
smaller asteroid called Dimorphous. Dimorphous circle or orbits around Didymus. It is the
same way the Moon orbits the Earth. Then DART would crash into Dimorphous.
Scientists hoped the crash would move the asteroid they wanted to shorten its orbit.
By studying the orbit, they could see how much force DART had. Then
they could use that information when trying to push asteroids in the future. Ed
lu Is, the director of the Asteroid Institute, It is an organization that
focuses on planetary defense. He spoke to news organization NPR about the DARTS project's
success. The point is this is a great thing. Someday we are going
to find an asteroid which has a high chance of hitting the Earth. We
are going to want to avoid it. We should have some experience first,
we should know that this would work. DART was a project started by NASA,
or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The United States provides the money
for this government agency, but many other countries came together to make the project
possible. The Japanese Airspace Exploration Agency helped, the Italian Space Agency helped monitor
DART. In several years, the European Space Agency will send a ship to
Dimorphous. They will study what changes DART made to the asteroid. Defending the
planet is important. Asteroids are not an immediate danger to Earth, but in
a hundred years we may need this technology. But planetary defense is a very
large job. It requires many countries to work together. Bill Nelson is the
NASA administrator. He spoke in a press release after the DART test. As
a whole, DART represents a great success for planetary defense. But it is
also a project of coming together. It helps all humanity. NASA studies space
and our home planet, but we are also working to protect that home.
This involved many countries working together. It turned made up science fiction stories into
science facts, and it demonstrated one way to protect Earth. Have you heard
of the Dart project? Do you think it is important? What else could
people do to protect the Earth? You can and leave a comment on our
website or email us at Radio at Radio English dot net. You can also
comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Spotlight Radio. You can also get
our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight
English app. The writer of this program was Dan Christman. The producer was
Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United
States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You
can listen to this program again and read it on the internet at www dot
Radio English dot net. This program is called dot We hope you can join
us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,