Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft and the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) LICIACube prior to ... [+]
Happy International Asteroid Day! In less than 90 days NASA will strive for the seemingly impossible when it attempts to re-route an asteroid—by smashing into it.
The plan—called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)—entails crashing a 500kg spacecraft into binary asteroid 65803 Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos (nicknamed “Didymoon”) in an effort to change their trajectory.
There’s no danger to Earth. Didymos and Didymoon are not heading our way. Instead it’s an effort to learn what could be a very valuable planetary defense skill—nudging an asteroid off-course to avoid it striking Earth.
However, DART could be a little more aggressive than planned, according to a new paper published today in The Planetary Science Journal that claims that instead of creating a small crater NASA’s spacecraft could leave the asteroid unrecognizable.
DART at scale.
DART launched in November 2021 and will arrive at Didymos and Didymoon this September and during October will crash into Didymoon at about 15,000 miles per hour. It’s hoped the impact will change Didymoon’s orbital velocity by 0.4 mm/s, which will in turn slightly alter the trajectory of Didymos.
However, according to researchers the impact may deform Didymoon much more severely than previously thought. It was hoped that the impact would leave just a small crater.
“Asteroids can have a very loose internal structure—similar to a pile of rubble—that is held together by gravitational interactions and small cohesive forces,” said Sabina Raducan, study lead-author, from the Institute of Physics and the National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS at the University of Bern.
The researchers’ model takes into account the propagation of the shock waves and other factors.
The effects the collision of DART could have on the orbit of Didymos B.
Although the impact will take place in September scientists won’t know the outcome until a European Space Agency spacecraft called HERA arrives at the scene to survey the damage—and see if the asteroid’s trajectory has changed.
ESA’s Hera mission will launch in October 2023 and reach Didymos in 2026.
“To get the most out of the HERA mission, we need to have a good understanding of potential outcomes of the DART impact,” said Martin Jutzi from the Institute of Physics and the National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS, and study co-author. “This also adds an important piece to the puzzle of our understanding of asteroids in general.”
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
