00:00with the lead of the asteroid framing camera and worked hard.
00:29We just saw a quick shot on it.
00:33It's a long one.
00:37No, it's the right trajectory.
00:40Asteroid impact deflection assessment, or AIDA.
00:44And in this context, NASA's data spacecraft impacted.
00:49Switch off the emergency alarm.
00:56Almost all over the world.
01:02My colleague Simona.
01:09It's very, very important, yeah, because this is planetary defense, pure and simple.
01:15I'm here because I enjoy the science anyway and I enjoy making the pretty pictures,
01:19but really this is serious business because sooner or later there will be an asteroid
01:24which will be on an impact course with the Earth.
01:27And this is how we become informed to deal with that.
01:30Otherwise we get mass destruction on the Earth at some point.
01:33So very important.
01:35Because this is absolutely amazing that ESA, you know,
01:38in four years and already have.
02:08So the ARA mission is a fascinating project to go into deep space
02:24and test an asteroid deflection technique.
02:27Not only on this specific asteroid called Didymos,
02:30but to be able to model the defense system so that we can use it to any other object in the future.
02:37So we're going to gather scientific data very close by and improve our understanding of asteroids
02:43so that one day, if needed, we can deflect them.
02:47So here to reach the asteroid Didymos requires a lot of energy.
02:51And to save propellants, save some energy,
02:54we use the gravity of Mars to pull us and slingshot us and send us far away
02:59so that the spacecraft can be smaller and cheaper.
03:02So this is what happened yesterday.
03:04And we have done it in a way that we could fly very close to one of its moons called Didymos
03:08and see it for the first time from a special point of view that was never seen before.
03:13And this helps us to understand the origin of this moon.
03:34NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
04:04NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
04:08So during the flyby here, I took more than a thousand images.
04:12We just collected them last night.
04:14We have processed some of them that we are showing today for the first time.
04:18And we're looking at it in different wavelengths,
04:20which gives us understanding of the composition of the moon with respect to Mars.
04:25And the scientists are now analyzing the data to try to understand
04:29what are the differences between the planet and the moon
04:32and give us some clues, some understanding of its origin.
04:53So there are more than 100 million asteroids in the solar system.
04:56Some of these come very close to the Earth.
04:59And sometimes in the history of Earth has been impacted by disasters.
05:02Today we know more than 90% of the dinosaur killer ones.
05:06And we are not scared about those.
05:08We know that none of these objects will impact the Earth.
05:11But the small asteroids, 100 meter size, these are very difficult to see.
05:15And currently we're tracking 30,000 of them that are potentially dangerous.
05:19And you never know when this is going to happen.
05:21So we have to have an insurance policy for planet Earth.
05:25And this is what we're doing with AI.
05:27We're validating a technique so that we can be safe in the future.
05:57NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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