The DART spacecraft explores and collides with the twin asteroid Didymos to change the asteroid’s orbit.
NASA successfully launched the DART or Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into space on Nov. 23, 2011 at approximately 1:21 p.m. U.S. time using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from the area. Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base california After the DART spacecraft takes off, it travels to a binary asteroid target. Or twin asteroid Didymos (Didymos) distance of more than 11 million kilometers.
Twin asteroid Didimos It consists of the asteroid Didymos, about 780 meters in diameter, and another asteroid orbiting Dimorphos, about 160 meters in size. Didymos may have been part of the asteroid that hit Earth about 66 million years ago. There is a harmless trajectory with Earth, this asteroid crash test. It’s just a science experiment to change the position of an asteroid in space.
After reaching the target location, the DART spacecraft collects preliminary data of the asteroid using the DRACO High Resolution Camera or Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation before sending it back to Earth. Once the other side surveys are complete, the spacecraft will be ordered to hit the asteroid Dimorphos at a speed of about 6.6 kilometers per second, or about 23,760 kilometers per hour. enough to cause a slight change in the position of the planet Dimorphos.
The collision will be observed by the small satellite LICIACube separated from the DART spacecraft, as well as by Earth observations with space telescopes on Earth. In addition, in 2024, the European Space Agency will send the Hera spacecraft again to look at the traces of collisions and other asteroid activity to send data back to Earth.
The DART spacecraft, or Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is another important NASA space mission. who want to study and understand the trajectory of asteroids One of the many orbiting space objects in the solar system. and from a large amount of geological evidence traces of asteroid impacts on Earth can be confirmed over hundreds of millions of years. In addition to understanding the planets NASA may be able to unravel the secrets about the origins of life. Unprecedented geological activity on an asteroid
Data source and image: New Atlas
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