{"id":112,"date":"2023-03-04T06:02:26","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T12:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/nasas-dart-mission-successfully-re-directs-asteroid-and-gathers-valuable-data-for-future-deflection-attempts\/"},"modified":"2023-03-04T06:02:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T12:02:26","slug":"nasas-dart-mission-successfully-re-directs-asteroid-and-gathers-valuable-data-for-future-deflection-attempts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/nasas-dart-mission-successfully-re-directs-asteroid-and-gathers-valuable-data-for-future-deflection-attempts\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s DART Mission Successfully Re-Directs Asteroid and Gathers Valuable Data for Future Deflection Attempts"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was the first attempt to intentionally collide a spacecraft with an asteroid, in an effort to demonstrate a planetary defense technique.[0]<\/a><\/sup> On September 26, 2022, the DART spacecraft smashed into a small asteroid moon called Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos.[0]<\/a><\/sup> The collision altered the path of Dimorphos through space, shortening the time it takes to orbit another, larger asteroid by 33 minutes.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The Hubble Space Telescope watched as debris blasted into space and twisted into a tail behind the asteroid, transforming Dimorphos into an active asteroid, similar to a comet but without the sublimating ice.[2]<\/a><\/sup> The collision also created a crater, which might be so large that it doesn\u2019t look like a crater at all.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

NASA's goal was to alter Dimorphos\u2019s orbit enough for astronomers to spot the changes, and they succeeded.[4]<\/a><\/sup> The mission also provided insights into planetary collisions that may have been common in the early solar system.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The data gathered from this mission will help inform researchers how to potentially divert a threatening asteroid's path away from Earth, if ever necessary. This could include a really threatening asteroid, and the information gathered from DART will contribute towards modeling and planning future asteroid deflections.<\/p>\n

In addition to large telescopes, light curves of Dimorphos\u2019s changes in brightness and color were made possible by the 31 citizen scientists who are listed as coauthors on the paper.[6]<\/a><\/sup> This research is invaluable and will help guide future attempts at similar projects.<\/p>\n

0. <\/span>“How to survive a killer asteroid impact if a NASA deflecting mission fails” Daily Mail, 3 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sciencetech\/article-11818053\/How-survive-killer-asteroid-impact-NASA-deflecting-mission-fail.html<\/a><\/p>\n

1. <\/span>“Astronomers still have their eyes on that asteroid NASA whacked” WBUR News, 4 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/npr\/1161082351\/astronomers-still-have-their-eyes-on-that-asteroid-nasa-whacked<\/a><\/p>\n

2. <\/span>“Hubble Space Telescope captured ‘movie' of spacecraft slamming into asteroid” CNN, 1 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/03\/01\/world\/nasa-hubble-dart-impact-findings-scn\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n

3. <\/span>“NASA's DART Mission Changed the Course of Planetary Defense” Gizmodo, 1 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/nasa-dart-asteroid-mission-planetary-defense-1850070584<\/a><\/p>\n

4. <\/span>“3Q: What we learned from the asteroid-smashing DART mission” MIT News, 2 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/news.mit.edu\/2023\/3q-what-we-learned-asteroid-smashing-dart-mission-0302<\/a><\/p>\n

5. <\/span>“Humanity punched this asteroid! NASA shows how hard in numbers” HT Tech, 3 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/tech.hindustantimes.com\/tech\/news\/humanity-punched-this-asteroid-nasa-shows-how-hard-in-numbers-71677844324516.html<\/a><\/p>\n

6. <\/span>“The Aftermath of DART, Humankind's First Planetary Defense Mission” Sky & Telescope, 1 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/skyandtelescope.org\/astronomy-news\/the-aftermath-of-dart-humankinds-first-planetary-defense-mission\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was the first attempt to intentionally collide a spacecraft with an asteroid, in an effort to demonstrate a planetary defense technique.[0] On September 26, 2022, the DART spacecraft smashed into a small asteroid moon called Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos.[0] The collision altered the path […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nehabiswas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}