![]() ![]() Launched by a SpaceX rocket in November 2021, DART made most of its voyage under the guidance of flight directors on the ground, with control handed over to the craft's autonomous on-board navigation system in the final hours of the journey.ĭimorphos and Didymos are both tiny compared with the cataclysmic Chicxulub asteroid that struck Earth some 66 million years ago, wiping out about three-quarters of the world's plant and animal species including the dinosaurs. ![]() The impact blasted tons of rocky material from the asteroid's surface into space, visible in telescope images as a large debris plume, producing a recoil effect that added to the force exerted on Dimorphos from the collision itself, NASA said. The relatively loose composition of rubble that Dimorphos appears to consist of may be a factor in how much the asteroid was budged by DART's blow. So the actual change of more than a half hour, with a margin of uncertainty plus or minus two minutes, exceeded expectations. Scientists had predicted the DART impact would shorten Dimorphos' orbital path by at least 10 minutes but would have considered a change as small as 73 seconds a success. Neither of the two asteroids involved, nor DART itself, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, posed any actual threat to Earth, NASA scientists said.īut Nancy Chabot, DART's coordination lead at APL, said Dimorphos "is a size of asteroid that is a priority for planetary defense."Ī Dimorphos-sized asteroid, while not capable of posing a planet-wide threat, could level a major city with a direct hit. The outcome "demonstrated we are capable of deflecting a potentially hazardous asteroid of this size," if it were discovered well enough in advance, said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's planetary science division. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |