The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is preparing for an essential mission – the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). This mission marks the first planetary defense exercise that utilizes the Kinetic Impactor Method, with a purpose to deflect a moving asteroid away from its predicted path.
Understanding the Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission
The DART mission involves launching a 600-kilogram spacecraft on a collision course with the asteroid Dimorphos. The purpose of this mission is to test the viability of the Kinetic Impactor Method for defending Earth from potential asteroid impacts. This method entails directing one or more high-speed spacecraft into an approaching near-Earth object’s path—potentially steering the asteroid into a different trajectory away from Earth’s path.
The DART spacecraft will impact the asteroid Dimorphos, estimated to have a mass of around five billion kilograms. Scientists will then compare the data obtained from the crash with various computer simulations to confirm whether this kinetic impactor method is a viable option for future asteroid threats.
The DART Spacecraft: An Overview
DART is a relatively affordable spacecraft equipped with two solar arrays and hydrazine propellant for maneuvering. It also contains about 10 kg of xenon, which will be used to demonstrate NASA’s new thrusters, known as the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster–Commercial (NEXT-C), in space.
The spacecraft carries a high-resolution imager called Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation (DRACO). These images will be sent to Earth in real-time, helping scientists study the impact site and the surface of Dimorphos. Additionally, DART will have a small satellite or CubeSat named LICIACube onboard, designed to capture images of the impact and the resulting crater.
Objectives of the Mission
DART’s objectives are twofold. First, this mission will serve as a test run for new technology that could potentially protect Earth from an approaching asteroid. Second, DART will collide with Dimorphos, a small moonlet orbiting a larger asteroid named Didymos, to see if it can alter its course.
The Significance of Choosing Dimorphos
The mission’s goal is to measure how much DART’s impact changes the moonlet’s velocity by altering its orbit around Didymos. Scientists believe that the collision will change Dimorphos’s speed by less than one percent, enough to modify the moonlet’s orbital period by several minutes. These minute changes are significant enough to be observed and measured by telescopes on Earth.
Understanding NASA’s ‘Greased Lightning-10 (GL-10)’
NASA developed the ‘Greased Lightning-10 (GL-10)’, a battery-operated plane with ten engines. The GL-10 can take off and land like a helicopter, but fly as efficiently as an aircraft. This remotely piloted plane has a wingspan of 3.05 meters, eight motors on the wings, and two on the tail, with a maximum take-off weight of 28.1 kilograms. GL-10’s successful development establishes NASA’s continuous advancement in aeronautical innovation.
Through initiatives like DART and GL-10, NASA continues to push the boundaries of space exploration and aeronautical advancements. These missions highlight important steps to ensure the well-being of our planet and humanity.
