Renowned journalist Andrew Revkin interviewed Dr. Ed Lu and Danica Remy in advance of the “Don’t Look Up” movie premiere and NASA DART mission 

B612 President Danica Remy and Asteroid Institute Director Dr. Ed Lu recently talked with journalist Andrew Revkin about the upcoming NASA DART Mission launch. The live interview touched on the sizes and dangers of asteroids and the need for asteroid discovery. Revkin paralleled the new movie Don’t Look Up and asked if public and sector awareness has advanced since he started covering B612’s work. He also wrote about the interview in detail. 

Dr. Lu explained the importance for humanity to discover asteroids, and about NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission scheduled to launch on November 24, 2021. DART is the first mission of its kind, and it aims to kinetically impact asteroid Didymos’ moonlet, Dimorphos (Didymos B). This impact is expected to alter the path of the binary asteroid, and will help us understand how to deter near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) in the future. 

The NASA DART mission will impact an asteroid “moonlet” to measure changes in course trajectory / Image: ESA

Danica Remy explained that asteroid discovery is necessary for early detection and deterrence of “city killing” asteroids, such as the Tunguska asteroid which impacted Russia in 1908. Dr. Ed Lu talked about the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and its future role in asteroid detection. Invest in humanity’s future.