NASA Says It Will Try to Blast Didymos Asteroid to Save Collision With Earth

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will be targeted at the binary asteroid Didymos.

NASA Says It Will Try to Blast Didymos Asteroid to Save Collision With Earth

Photo Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins, APL/Steve Gribben

An illustration shows NASA's DART in action

Highlights
  • Didymos asteroid is on its way to Earth
  • NASA's mission aims to blast the asteroid to eliminate threats
  • The NASA mission will be launched on November 23
Advertisement

NASA will launch a mission this November to strike an asteroid that may pose a threat to Earth. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will be launched in order to prevent a hazardous asteroid from striking Earth. The mission is set to launch at 10:20pm PST, November 23 (10:50am IST on the following day). DART will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US. The launch will be covered live and will be aired on NASA TV, the NASA app and its website. The space agency has also called for media coverage of the event.

DART will be NASA's first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique, where one or more high-speed aircraft are sent to intercept the path of an approaching near-Earth object, the agency said in a press release. This interception could change the trajectory of the object and hence prevent a collision. DART is a planetary defence-driven test of technologies that will be directed at the binary near-Earth asteroid Didymos.

Didymos is a binary asteroid with two parts. Its primary body is approximately 2,559 feet (780m) across and its secondary body (known as its moonlet) is about 525 feet (160m) in size. The moonlet's size is typical of space objects that are most likely to cause a threat to Earth. The Didymos binary is being currently observed using telescopes on Earth to precisely measure its properties.

After separation from the launch vehicle, DART will cruise for over a year. Then, it will intercept Didymos' moonlet in late September 2022, when the Didymos system will be at a distance of 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometres) from Earth. The kinetic deflection will be achieved as DART deliberately crashes against the moonlet. The crash will take place at a speed of approximately 6.6 km/s.

DART will be aided with an onboard camera (named DRACO) and sophisticated autonomous navigation software. Once launched, DART's Roll Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) will be deployed to provide the machinery with the required solar power needed for its electric propulsion system.

DART's collision with the moonlet will change the near-Earth object's speed in its orbit around the primary asteroid body by only a fraction of one percent. But the moonlet's orbital period will change by several minutes. This will allow enough time for scientists to observe and measure the event through telescopes on Earth.


Amazon's month-long sale, the Great Indian Festival, is back. This week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, Amazon India's consumer electronics head Akshay Ahuja takes us behind the scenes. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: NASA, Asteroid, DART
Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, More US Tech Giants Should Be Regulated Where They’re Based: EU Lawmaker
Axie Infinity Maker Sky Mavis Raises Series B Led by Andreesen Horowitz
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »