The DART mission’s first phase was successful. To learn if we can save ourselves from the same destiny as the dinosaurs, ZDNET spoke with a DART mission leader.
On Monday, NASA successfully sent a spacecraft into orbit before crashing it with the asteroid Dimorphos, which had never been observed before. The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) project, NASA’s first planetary defence mission, captured the interest of people all around the world because it was designed to keep mankind from meeting the same end as the dinosaurs—getting splattered by an asteroid.
What will happen to the DART mission now that the crash has occurred, though? Are we aware of its outcome? Can we get a better night’s sleep?
Yes, to answer briefly.
Carolyn Ernst, a DART DRACO instrument scientist at Johns Hopkins APL, told ZDNET, “You can rest a little bit easier.” “The first test we conducted was successful.”
There are two main parts to the DART mission. The initial part of the project, which involved determining whether NASA had the technological capability to launch a spacecraft into orbit in order to strike a target asteroid that had never been seen before, was a success. The spacecraft reached its destination, as shown on Monday.
IMPACT SUCCESS! Watch from #DARTMIssion’s DRACO Camera, as the vending machine-sized spacecraft successfully collides with asteroid Dimorphos, which is the size of a football stadium and poses no threat to Earth. pic.twitter.com/7bXipPkjWD
— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2022
The second element of the mission is to monitor the impact’s aftermath to determine whether the asteroid’s trajectory was altered. For the mission to be judged successful, this component of the mission is crucial.
“You know, if you went up there and tried to shift an asteroid so that it wouldn’t hit the Earth and it didn’t move, that’s not successful, right?” Ernst stated.
NASA has also stated that this strange sound is a meteoroid striking Mars.
The DART investigation team steps in at this point. The team will examine photographs and data over the course of the next six to twelve months to ascertain whether the hit had any impact before major funding ends.
“Now we have to determine how big of a deflection we truly made. to truly assess how much of a push we gave it, which can be a crucial piece of the puzzle in determining how to actually construct a mission that was going to try to deflect something, “Ernst added.
“So, do you require a quicker response? You require a larger item. You require two? Is one enough or is one too many? and sort of giving that aspect of things some thought.”
Even though there isn’t an asteroid that is immediately threatening Earth, it is highly likely that there will be one in the future, making this research essential.
According to statistics, the Earth will be hit by something at some point simply because if there is enough material in space and you wait for decades or millions of years, something will strike you, said Ernst.
Don’t panic; according to Ernst, it is unlikely that an asteroid will strike Earth in our lifetime. But you should always err on the side of caution, right? That’s what the dinosaurs would have said, at least, in my opinion.
But we have the ability to start, and that’s what this is – the first step, said Ernst. “And of course, you know, the dinosaurs didn’t have the luxury of being able to put together a plan, but we have the potential to start,” he added.
The team will make use of its telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and Lucy Space Probe, to determine how much the asteroid has actually moved since the impact. We will view those photographs via NASA as they are received. In a press statement on Thursday, NASA provided in-depth views of the DART collision. Images of the crash site taken by the Webb telescope both before and after the collision.
