NASA DART Launch: Key Step Forward in Planetary Defense - SciTechDaily

DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), which launched at 10:21 p.m.

This mission will demonstrate asteroid deflection via kinetic impact.

She and her international team have been working for years to obtain a precise pre-impact orbit of Dimorphos, the satellite asteroid, around Didymos, the primary asteroid in a near-Earth asteroid system.

However, an asteroid heading toward Earth is possible, and scientists throughout the world are working on ways to identify these potential threats and how to mitigate them.

If this mission goes according to plan, this technique, called kinetic impact deflection, could be an important piece of a planetary defense system.

Using data from 2003, when the satellite was discovered, through early 2021, the working group has been able to precisely constrain the characteristics of the orbit and the position of Dimorphos in the orbit at the time of impact in fall 2022?

“This is essentially thinking of the satellite Dimorphos as a clock, which will return to its position in front of or behind Didymos at consistent intervals,” Thomas said.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test is the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test, demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection technology.

DART is a focused mission, proving that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it (called a kinetic impact) at roughly 4 miles per second (6 kilometers per second).

Its target is the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”), which orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos (Greek for “twin”).

As part of NASA’s larger planetary defense strategy, DART will simultaneously test new technologies and provide important data to enhance modeling and predictive capabilities and help scientists better prepare for an asteroid that might pose a threat to Earth, should one be discovered

November 28, 2021

November 28, 2021

November 28, 2021

November 28, 2021