NASA is preparing to perform an important mission for planetary defense. With the Dart mission, NASA will defend the Earth against threats from space for the first time. This mission will attempt to change the trajectory of an asteroid using the DART spacecraft.
The DART spacecraft, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last November. With the DART mission, which emerged as a result of the 330 million dollar project, our defense capabilities against asteroids that are in danger of hitting the Earth in the future will be tested.
Trying to change the orbit of the asteroid
The DART mission will target the Dimorphos asteroid in the Didymos binary system. The effects of the DART spacecraft, which will deliberately collide with this 160-meter-diameter asteroid at a speed of 24,139 kilometers per hour on September 26, will be observed in detail.
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Although Dimorphos is a relatively small asteroid, it essentially orbits the much larger asteroid Didymos. Dimorphos completes its orbit around Didymos approximately every 12 hours. DART’s goal will be to slow Dimorphos and move it closer to the large asteroid by 10 minutes from its orbit. The Didymos two systems will be observed with telescopes on Earth, and a minimum change in orbital period of 73 seconds will be enough for the mission to be considered successful.
NASA will live-stream the mission on September 26
NASA will be live-streaming the September 26 mission, but don’t expect to see the crash as a video stream. Although DART is equipped with an array of cameras, their task is to autonomously guide the spacecraft to Dimorphos and photograph the surface. However, inside the DART spacecraft, the LICIACube belonging to the Italian Space Agency will separate from the vehicle before the collision and photograph the Didymos binary system. The collision will take place approximately 11 million kilometers from Earth. Meanwhile, NASA underlines that Didymos does not pose a threat to the Earth.
Thanks to the DART mission, important data will be obtained for the measures to be taken against asteroids that may pose a danger of hitting the Earth in the future. In addition, ESA’s Hera mission, which will examine the impact of the DART mission in detail, will be launched within four years.
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