NASA’s First-Ever Planetary Defense Test

NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) targeted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, a small body just 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. It orbits a larger, 2,560-foot (780-meter) asteroid called Didymos. Neither asteroid poses a threat to Earth. The mission’s one-way trip confirmed NASA can successfully navigate a spacecraft to intentionally collide with an asteroid to…
NASA’s First-Ever Planetary Defense Test


NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) targeted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, a small body just 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. It orbits a larger, 2,560-foot (780-meter) asteroid called Didymos. Neither asteroid poses a threat to Earth.

The mission’s one-way trip confirmed NASA can successfully navigate a spacecraft to intentionally collide with an asteroid to deflect it, a technique known as kinetic impact.

With the asteroid pair within 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) of Earth, a global team is using dozens of telescopes stationed around the world and in space to observe the asteroid system. Over the coming weeks, they will characterize the ejecta produced and precisely measure Dimorphos’ orbital change to determine how effectively DART deflected the asteroid. The results will help validate and improve scientific computer models critical to predicting the effectiveness of this technique as a reliable method for asteroid deflection.

“This first-of-its-kind mission required incredible preparation and precision, and the team exceeded expectations on all counts,” said APL Director Ralph Semmel. “Beyond the truly exciting success of the technology demonstration, capabilities based on DART could one day be used to change the course of an asteroid to protect our planet and preserve life on Earth as we know it.”

Roughly four years from now, the European Space Agency’s Hera project will conduct detailed surveys of both Dimorphos and Didymos, with a particular focus on the crater left by DART’s collision and a precise measurement of Dimorphos’ mass.

Read More

Total
0
Shares
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Posts
Space Based Starshades Will Make Large Ground Telescopes the Most Powerful Exoplanet Finders
Read More

Space Based Starshades Will Make Large Ground Telescopes the Most Powerful Exoplanet Finders

Hybrid observatories will combine a 100 meter diameter starshade in space with a telescope on the ground. The Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) would convert the largest ground-based telescopes now under construction (Giant Magellan Telescope, Thirty Meter Telescope, and Extremely Large Telescope) into the most powerful planet finders yet designed. No other proposed equipment…
Star Scientific Non-Combustion Heat Exchanger and Catalyst
Read More

Star Scientific Non-Combustion Heat Exchanger and Catalyst

Star Scientific has raised over $100 million over two decades. Early on they were working on muon catalyzed fusion but they seem to have transitioned to non-combustion heat generation from hydrogen. The are using some thin-film catalyst that generates heat when exposed to hydrogen and oxygen. The Hydrogen Energy Release Optimiser (HERO) converts hydrogen into…
Louis-Jack & Jăk Skŏt journey through a purgatorial nightclub in Tondal (Screen Test)
Read More

Louis-Jack & Jăk Skŏt journey through a purgatorial nightclub in Tondal (Screen Test)

In a contemporary retelling of the medieval morality tale Les Visions Du Chevalier Tondal directors Louis-Jack and Jăk Skŏt have enlisted the talents of movement artist Magnus Westwell, CGI artist Enes Güç, designer AGF Hydra and producer and sound artist IVVVO to relocate a Boschian vision of purgatory to a contemporary club basement. Artists and…
Teslas Are Safer and Here is Proof
Read More

Teslas Are Safer and Here is Proof

I did some research on Tesla safety using non-Tesla data to address the issue from the AI experts. Some AI experts criticized FSD. I used US, UK government and insurance data to show Tesla is already safer and why we should expect more safety from Autopilot and FSD. I also provided context about where and…