Why do spacecrafts not collide with thousands of asteroids?
There are thousands of asteroids in space, but till date no spacecraft has ever collided with an asteroid. This too has an interesting and a little difficult story. It is believed that this happens because that kind of technology is used in spacecraft. Let us know in detail why spacecraft do not collide with asteroids? Let us try to understand this with an imagination as well. Suppose a space agency located on a remote planet is planning an ambitious mission. The objective of the mission is to discover life on a new planet. A state-of-the-art spacecraft has been designed for this mission, which is going to pass through thousands of asteroids. As soon as we think about the asteroid belt, the image of a dense, disorganized and dangerous place comes to our mind, but the reality is different from that.
Why do thousands of asteroids not collide in space?
The spacecraft's scientists and engineers make a challenging plan. First, they map the asteroid belt with utmost accuracy. For this, they use huge telescopes and other advanced equipment that track the position, speed and direction of asteroids in space. Based on this data, they decide on a route that reduces the risk of collision with these celestial objects.
Now, the spacecraft's software and its automated systems are prepared. This system not only observes the position of the asteroids, but also calculates their speed and the chances of a possible collision. If the chances of colliding with an asteroid increase, the spacecraft's software immediately responds and changes the path. This is a kind of 'piloting' system that works without human intervention and is highly accurate