What is the DART mission from NASA?
The project, which involved ramming a spaceship into an asteroid, was launched on November 21 of last year. The target asteroid, called Dimorphous, is a member of a binary system. This asteroid, which has a diameter of 160 metres (530 feet), circles the larger asteroid Didymos (diameter of 780 metres or 2,560 feet). On September 26, the DART spacecraft will collide with Dimorphous, which is located 109.4 billion kilometres away, at a speed of 23,760 kph to alter the asteroid's path.
Interestingly, this is the first mission to test asteroid deflection technologies via kinetic impact. "The spacecraft will deliberately collide with a target asteroid—which poses no threat to Earth—to change its speed and path. If successful, DART’s kinetic impact method could be used in the future if a hazardous asteroid on a collision course with Earth were ever discovered", NASA stated in a statement.
What happens after the impact?
The post-impact shock waves and cratering process, together with the fact that the Dimorphos has a loose core, are projected to cause significantly more serious damage to the target asteroid than anticipated. Following the impact, the Hera mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) will be in use. To investigate the aftermath of the impact, the HERA spacecraft will rejoin the asteroid system. It will also send out two CubeSats to conduct a close-up crash scene examination.
Close-up investigations will be conducted by these CubeSats, called Milani, the rock decoder, and Juventas, the radar visionary. Interestingly, the HERA spacecraft will also transmit visuals of the impacts because the collision would destroy DART's camera.
The event will be live-streamed on social media and on the official website of NASA.
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