NASA’s DART mission will crash spacecraft into asteroid’s moon in the name of planetary defense
MARYLAND – A NASA mission that scientists say could one day save all of human kind is set to make an explosive development Monday night.
An Explosive Development
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is expected to intentionally crash into the Dimorphos moon of the Didymas asteroid around 7:14 p.m. It was launched into space ten months ago.
“We’re trying to basically demonstrate that we know how to protect the Earth in case an asteroid comes our way, and we want to move it out of the way so it can’t destroy a city or do something worse,” said Principle Professional Staff of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Olivier Barnouin. “We’re basically going to launch a spacecraft at the moon of Didymas, called Dimorphos, and displace the objects 160 meters across, or one and a half football fields.”
The spacecraft is about 100 times smaller than Dimorphos, says NASA. For that reason, the impact won’t completely destroy the asteroid. But, it will change how quickly the moon orbits Dydmas.
Preparing to Protect the Planet
Barnouin says while there isn’t any imminent threat of an asteroid striking Earth, it’s still important to prepare for the possibility. This will be the first time NASA has undertaken such a mission. “Something like that – if it were to hit New York, or example, would decimate New York, so we want to be able to do something about it,” he said.
As NASA continues to search for other asteroids near the Earth, Barnouin says it could be a century before any kind of threat becomes imminent. “This is entirely preparation. We have no threat. There is no asteroid that is currently on a trajectory to hit the Earth as far as we know. But, we have caught and observed all of the asteroids out there, especially in this size class, 160 meters,” he said.
Learning More About Binary Asteroids
The mission is also serving as a unique opportunity to study a binary asteroids, says Barnouin. Binary asteroids are defined as a system of asteroids circling the same orbital point. Barnouin says they make up about 15% of asteroids found near Earth.
Barnouin, who has been contributing to the mission for ten years, says it will likely shed crucial light on those types of asteroids. “It was both the idea of displacing something by moving it with an impact, learning about the physical properties of the asteroid after the impact, and being able to actually save the Earth and doing something useful for humanity besides just learning about how the Solar System works,” he said.
Looking Ahead
While Barnouin says most people won’t be able to see the impact with their own eyes, it will be live streamed on NASA’s YouTube channel. Plus, more experienced astronomers might have interesting data to track in the coming months.
“If you’re a really keen astronomer and wanted to look at the change in light curves in the coming months, then yes, maybe you would be able to tell a consequence of what we did,” said Barnouin.
In four years, the European Space Agency will send a mission to study how the impact affected Dimorphos. Scientists will collect valuable data that could contribute to planetary defense. “There’s a chance that maybe one of these objects comes towards us, and this allows us to prepare for that. But, the chance is minimal,” said Barnouin.
