What is NASA’s DART mission?
On 24th November 2021, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a mission named Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). The mission's goal is to test a new technology that allows a spacecraft to crash into an asteroid and change its direction.
DART will crash into the targeted asteroid on 26th September 2022. Scientists believe that if an asteroid threatens Earth in the future, a mission like DART will be able to stop it.
Can you give some details about the spacecraft?
DART is shaped like a box and weighs around 610kg. The spacecraft is driven using hydrazine propellant and includes two solar panel arrays. DART is equipped with a high-resolution camera named DRACO. DRACO will capture photos that will be used by researchers to understand the asteroid's surface and the impact site.
DART is also carrying a small satellite that will be launched 10 days before impact. This satellite will photograph the impact and the resulting crater. It may also photograph any dust clouds that form during the crash.
Which asteroid will NASA move through this mission?
DART will target an asteroid named Dimorphos. It is in orbit around another large asteroid named Didymos. It is expected that the orbit of Dimorphos will slightly change after DART crashes into it.
Telescopes on Earth and in space, including the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, will focus on this asteroid to study its orbital change. This asteroid is not a threat to Earth, but the data collected from its crash is important to scientists.
How will the data from this crash help scientists?
The impact data will be used by scientists to calculate Dimorphos' orbital changes. This study will help scientists understand how asteroids react to impactors (like DART). Using this data, we can come up with necessary steps to save Earth from asteroid threats in the future.
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