NASA's DART Spacecraft Successfully Crashes Into An Asteroid
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On September 26, 2022, NASA's golf cart-sized DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally crashed into a distant asteroid. The spectacular collision, observed by telescopes worldwide, was NASA's first practical attempt to alter the path of an asteroid. The $325 million mission was part of the space agency's overall planetary defense strategy to protect Earth from the impact of an errant space rock.
"We're embarking on a new era of humankind, an era in which we potentially have the capability to protect ourselves from something like a dangerous hazardous asteroid impact. What an amazing thing. We've never had that capability before," said Lori Glaze, Director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.
DART's target was a small asteroid called Dimorphos. The space rock measures 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter, or about the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is currently about seven million miles away from Earth. Dimorphos orbits a larger, 2,560-foot (780-meter) asteroid called Didymos.
Neither asteroid is a threat to Earth. The binary asteroid system was selected because observing a change in the orbits of two space rocks is much easier than that of a single asteroid. Additionally, Didymos has the physical properties of objects classified by NASA as Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA).
NASA's team will now use ground-based telescopes to determine if DART's impact altered Dimorphos's orbit around Didymos. The researchers expect the collision to shorten Dimorphos's orbit time by roughly ten minutes.
In October 2024, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Hera Mission to conduct detailed surveys of the two asteroids. The researchers are particularly interested in knowing more about the crater caused by DART's collision. They also want to obtain precise measurements of Dimorphos's mass. If successful, Hera will be the first spacecraft to explore a binary asteroid system. It will also be the first to visit a space rock as small as Dimorphos.
Resources: NASA.gov, The Verge.com
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94 Comments
- jacobdog123about 2 yearsThis is a very good article Thanks
isaiahrabout 2 yearsWe are safe, thanks to NASA!- alec0608about 2 yearsNot exactly, Meteors still exist.
kumquatpersonalmost 2 yearsThat’s also was a test of some sort I don’t think it was headed for earth
julianowakowskaabout 2 yearsthat’s bad
leevithecoolabout 2 yearsThey did it so an asteroid wouldn't crash into the earth, to change the asteroid's orbit, to study important images of the crash, and see how DART affected the asteroid.- leevithecoolabout 2 yearsnice
hyperendocrinabout 2 yearsDang that might be a very good idea for later expeditions.
fog6802about 2 yearsThis is Awesome!!
kemme07about 2 yearsPoor NASA!
begolealmost 2 yearsdude they completed the mission all though the astroid would not even come close to the earth the gole was to hit the astroid to see if they could do this in the future to save earth when one actually hit earth- leevithecoolabout 2 yearsthey did it on purpose
summer_beachabout 2 yearsI don't thing this was such a great idea. There are probably a bunch of parts all over the place an it will add more to the parts that are already up there. Plus, 325 million dollars just to crash it? 🤔- nasajayhopsiknalmost 2 yearsI think 325 Million is a good price to put on more than 7 billion lives.
- begolealmost 2 yearsYezzzz final some one is smart every one els that commented on this was like oh nasa thanks for saveing the earth.. but know one actuley read it the thing was not evne going to hit the earth:))))
adroit_avimimusabout 2 yearsFor scientific purposes, it's worth the whole 325 million! Now scientists know more about this!- jacobdog123about 2 yearsBro it awesome
- isaiahrabout 2 yearsoof, there goes the NASA budget...
some0neabout 2 yearsIt was an experiment. Sacrifices are needed to make sure an asteroid doesn't destroy earth in the future. On top of that, Nasa's budget for 2022 is 24 billion dollars.- finleabout 2 yearsBrah it's space why do you care about parts being everywhere, plus $325 million is worth it if this technology can save THE LITERAL EARTH.
braxtenc48about 2 yearsthey hve 100,000.000 of dollers they can do what ever they want
techfashion0315about 2 yearsYeah, never thought about that....🙃
- jonsmithabout 2 yearsCool
marshking456about 2 yearsYeah same