Planetary defense experts prefer nudging a threatening asteroid or comet out of the way, given enough lead time, rather than blowing it up and creating multiple pieces that could rain down on Earth. But they stressed it would amount to a significant change over years. The anticipated orbital shift of 1% might not sound like much, scientists noted. The impact should pare 10 minutes off that, but telescopes will need anywhere from a few days to nearly a month to verify the new orbit. NASA says it will crash a spacecraft into the moonlet of the Didymos asteroid to change its trajectory, a test of methods to protect the Earth from hazardous asteroids. But that should be plenty to shrink its 11-hour, 55-minute orbit around Didymos. The spacecraft packed a scant 1,260 pounds (570 kilograms), compared with the asteroid’s 11 billion pounds (5 billion kilograms). Scientists insisted Dart would not shatter Dimorphos. The Italian Cubesat was released from Dart two weeks ago. “It’s meeting its destiny," said Betsy Congdon, Johns Hopkins' mechanical lead.Ī mini satellite followed a few minutes behind to take photos of the impact. There was no sorrow over the spacecraft's demise. Their mission complete, the Dart team went straight into celebration mode. The last image froze on the screen as the radio transmission ended.įlight controllers cheered, hugged one another and exchanged high fives. Within minutes, Dimorphos was alone in the pictures it looked like a giant gray lemon, but with boulders and rubble on the surface. With an image beaming back to Earth every second, Adams and other ground controllers in Laurel, Maryland, watched with growing excitement as Dimorphos loomed larger and larger in the field of view alongside its bigger companion. "We’re seeing Dimorphos, so wonderful, wonderful.” “Woo hoo,” exclaimed Adams, a mission systems engineer at Johns Hopkins. Launched last November, the vending machine-size Dart - short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test - navigated to its target using new technology developed by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, the spacecraft builder and mission manager.ĭart’s on-board camera, a key part of this smart navigation system, caught sight of Dimorphos barely an hour before impact. How NASA's Lucy Asteroid Mission Will Help Tell the Story of Our Solar System
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