How Does AIDA: Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment study Work?

AIDA is like a game where scientists try to bump a big rock so it doesn't hit Earth, and they watch what happens.

Imagine you're playing with marbles on a table. One marble is really big, and it's rolling toward your favorite toy. You want to stop it from knocking the toy over. So, you throw another marble at it to make it change direction or speed up, that’s kind of like what AIDA does, but with asteroids in space!

Scientists use a spacecraft called Dart (short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test) to bump into an asteroid. It's like throwing a marble at another marble, except this one is way bigger and farther away.

After Dart hits the asteroid, scientists watch from Earth using telescopes, kind of like how you might peek over your shoulder to see what happens after you throw a marble at another one.

By seeing how much the asteroid changes direction or speed, scientists learn if they can deflect asteroids that might be heading toward Earth. It’s like learning how strong your marble throw needs to be to move the big rock out of the way!