Historic NASA success. A powerful impact from an asteroid

• An American satellite hit the asteroid to change the way it moves. The mission was successful
• – I believe this success will teach us how to protect our planet from threats from outer space. Planetary defense is a global issue, but now I’m confident something like this is possible, says NASA CEO Bill Nelson
• – Part of the work is done, but now the next stage begins. We will spend the next few months and even years analyzing data from this impact, the researchers say
• More important information can be found on the Onet homepage

At a quarter past one in the morning, Monday through Tuesday, Polish time, there was a thunderous applause at the control center of the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at John Hopkins University. Built by scientists working there and worth over $ 300 million. The DART satellite ended its life after a collision with a distance of 11 million km asteroid with a diameter of 160 meters.

Thus, the suicide mission became the first in history to demonstrate a planetary defense system. DART was supposed to show that we can change the flight path of an asteroid that rushes towards Earth enough to circle our planet.

– I believe this success will teach us how to protect our planet from threats from outer space. Planetary defense is a global issue, but now I’m sure it’s possible, NASA CEO Bill Nelson said.

Everything went according to plan. Scientists estimated they were exceptionally relaxed during the last hour. – We practiced many different variations, but the flight path was exactly as it should be. So in the last couple of minutes, when we were no longer able to give any commands to the satellite, we felt only joy, ‘said Ed Reynolds, the APL mission manager.

The rest of the text is below the video.

Now begins another, perhaps even more important part of the entire mission: Scientists want to understand exactly what the effect of a halftone satellite colliding with an asteroid is. Ideally, the time it takes Dimorphos to run around his older brother Didymos (together they form a binary system) should be reduced. The telescopes will try to track this change from Earth: it will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of the impact.

– Part of the work is done, but now the next stage begins. We will spend the next few months and even years analyzing data from this impact, said Carolyn Ernst, who worked on the DART camera.

Dimorphos is so small (about 160 meters) that 15 minutes before the collision it did not fill the entire field of view of the DART camera. – Nasa / You Tube—

But scientists are also interested in the impact of the impact on Dimorphos itself. The problem with asteroids is that it is very difficult for us to determine from Earth how they are made and from what. Some of them are compact rocks and some are loosely connected clusters of debris. The collision in both cases will have different consequences. In short: it will be more effective with the first.

We discovered that asteroids can be loose clusters of debris thanks to the OSIRIS-REx mission, which was to provide samples from another small asteroid: Bennu. Bennu’s surface was so soft that if the satellite didn’t turn on the reverse motors at the right time, it would collapse beneath the surface.

During the post-incident press conference, the scientists expressed the opinion that Dimorphos looked more like Bennu in this respect. This means that a DART shot launched a large amount of material above the surface. The crater after the impact is probably 10-20 meters.

Therefore, we are now waiting for the photos that will soon be sent to Earth by LICIACube, a tiny satellite that previously disconnected from DART and whose job is to photograph the collision site. The Italian construction will overcome the impact for 55 km in less than three minutes. Scientists are interested in the aforementioned cloud of dust and debris.

Infographic showing the DART mission plan. – NASA / Johns Hopkins APL—

However, you will have to wait a few or a dozen days for the photos. At the same time, observations of the Dimorphos-Didymos system will be made by telescopes on Earth (and in space). Scientists estimate that it will take several months to fully analyze the data.

However, the scientists don’t want to stop there. The European Space Agency intends to send a separate mission to thoroughly investigate the impact site. The satellite will be called HERA and, hopefully, it will be launched at the end of 2024 and will arrive in December 2026.

“Only Hera will allow us to obtain all the parameters we will need if we are to plan a true planetary defense mission in the future,” said Ian Carnelli, project leader for the European Space Agency.

“Terrans, you can sleep well,” joked Elena Adams, APL mission manager.