A mission to demonstrate an asteroid deflection technique just got a NASA promotion to the design phase. Called DART, the plan would see a refrigerator-sized spacecraft smash into a non-threatening asteroid, causing it to move ever so slightly from its original orbital path. The project is seen as an important first step in developing a planetary shield against incoming asteroids.
DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is being designed by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and it will rely on the “kinetic impactor technique,” whereby a fast moving spacecraft will smash into a Near Earth Object (NEO), causing it to gradually shift its orbit. Eventually, the tactic could be used to nudge an asteroid that’s headed straight for Earth.
In what will be the first demonstration of its kind, DART will be tested on the smaller of two non-threatening asteroids in the Didymos system. The two asteroids in this binary pairing are known as Didymos A, which measures about a half-mile in diameter, and Didymos B, which is about 530 feet wide. NASA is hoping to smash a spacecraft into Didymos B in 2024. These rocky objects are similar in size and composition to many asteroids, including those that could wreak havoc on Earth. Read more...
DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is being designed by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and it will rely on the “kinetic impactor technique,” whereby a fast moving spacecraft will smash into a Near Earth Object (NEO), causing it to gradually shift its orbit. Eventually, the tactic could be used to nudge an asteroid that’s headed straight for Earth.
In what will be the first demonstration of its kind, DART will be tested on the smaller of two non-threatening asteroids in the Didymos system. The two asteroids in this binary pairing are known as Didymos A, which measures about a half-mile in diameter, and Didymos B, which is about 530 feet wide. NASA is hoping to smash a spacecraft into Didymos B in 2024. These rocky objects are similar in size and composition to many asteroids, including those that could wreak havoc on Earth. Read more...