NASA crashes Dart--Success!

[Sour Masher]

I don't know if anyone was aware this was happening tonight and/or caught the live feed. I was not aware until turning on Sling and seeing it as a recommended channel. I watched the final 15 minutes and it was great. It is really mindboggling how far we have come as a species in such a short amount of time. Today we took the first step in being able to defend ourselves from an asteroid impact. The technical knowledge and the math involved with calculating the trajectories is mindboggling to me--to be able to hit such a relatively tiny rock orbiting a slightly bigger rock is truly amazing (they are now going to measure how much they have changed the orbit of the smaller asteroid around the larger one). This is the culmination of years of work involving multiple cooperating countries. It is a good reminder of what we can do as a species when we work together for a common good. I got to watch it with my oldest son, who turned 8 today! The final images the satalite sent as it closed in on the asteroid at 4 miles a second are spectacular.

https://www.space.com/nasa-dart-aste...efense-success

"For the first time in history, a spacecraft from Earth has crashed into an asteroid to test a way to save our planet from extinction.

The spacecraft, NASA's Double Asteroid Rendezvous Test (DART) probe, slammed into a small asteroid 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth tonight (Sept. 26) in what the U.S. space agency has billed as the world's first planetary defense test. The goal: to change the orbit of the space rock — called Dimorphos — around its larger asteroid parent Didymos enough to prove humanity could deflect a dangerous asteroid if one was headed for Earth."

[Sour Masher]

Here is the final minute. Regardless of how much the orbit was changed with this impact, this is an amazing achievement that puts us on the path toward being able to alter the course of an asteroid that would otherwise impact our planet.

[rhd]

I don't know if anyone was aware this was happening tonight and/or caught the live feed. I was not aware until turning on Sling and seeing it as a recommended channel. I watched the final 15 minutes and it was great. It is really mindboggling how far we have come as a species in such a short amount of time. Today we took the first step in being able to defend ourselves from an asteroid impact. The technical knowledge and the math involved with calculating the trajectories is mindboggling to me--to be able to hit such a relatively tiny rock orbiting a slightly bigger rock is truly amazing (they are now going to measure how much they have changed the orbit of the smaller asteroid around the larger one). This is the culmination of years of work involving multiple cooperating countries. It is a good reminder of what we can do as a species when we work together for a common good. I got to watch it with my oldest son, who turned 8 today! The final images the satalite sent as it closed in on the asteroid at 4 miles a second are spectacular.

https://www.space.com/nasa-dart-aste...efense-success

"For the first time in history, a spacecraft from Earth has crashed into an asteroid to test a way to save our planet from extinction.

The spacecraft, NASA's Double Asteroid Rendezvous Test (DART) probe, slammed into a small asteroid 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth tonight (Sept. 26) in what the U.S. space agency has billed as the world's first planetary defense test. The goal: to change the orbit of the space rock — called Dimorphos — around its larger asteroid parent Didymos enough to prove humanity could deflect a dangerous asteroid if one was headed for Earth."

Thanx for this. I try to follow this space-related stuff fairly closely but I was not aware of this mission. Yes, it is a landmark achievement.

But we have a long way to go in actually changing the course of an actual Earth-crossing asteroid. The problem is many of these asteroids are so small and so dark that we dont see them until it's too late. Even a very small asteroid, like Dimorphos, can cause widespread regional damage if it hits Earth. The asteroid that caused the Barringer crater in Arizona is thought to have been only 100 to 165 feet in diameter. Dimorphos is about 555 feet in diameter.

4 miles per second actually is slow for a spacecraft. I suspect that they made it travel this slow so they could better control its direction.

[Sour Masher]

Thanx for this. I try to follow this space-related stuff fairly closely but I was not aware of this mission. Yes, it is a landmark achievement.

But we have a long way to go in actually changing the course of an actual Earth-crossing asteroid. The problem is many of these asteroids are so small and so dark that we dont see them until it's too late. Even a very small asteroid, like Dimorphos, can cause widespread regional damage if it hits Earth. The asteroid that caused the Barringer crater in Arizona is thought to have been only 100 to 165 feet in diameter. Dimorphos is about 555 feet in diameter.

4 miles per second actually is slow for a spacecraft. I suspect that they made it travel this slow so they could better control its direction.

Yeah, they controlled it most of the way there, but the last part, it did with new self-guidance tech. This is definitely just the first step, but it is a hell of an achievement nonetheless.

[rhd]

Here's a video explaining the mission in more detail:

The video says that the impact of the spacecraft wont cause either Dimorphos or its parent asteroid, Didymos, to become more likely to impact the Earth. It is supposed to reduce the orbital time of Dimorphos by 4.2 minutes so if that is what happens the mission will be considered a success. The European Space Agency will launch another mission (HERA) in the next several years to study the impact. The video said that the DART mission was approved in 2019 so it took about 3 years from start to finish. Work on the mission was slowed by the pandemic and also, w the expertise we gained in completing this mission, the next such project might take only half the time or less. So if and when we discover a potential Earth-impacting asteroid, it may take only a year or so to complete a mission to alter its trajectory to miss the Earth.