DART Satellite to Test Direct Impact Effects on Asteroid Course

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test satellite, first of its kind, had a date with the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26. 

The test gauges the feasibility of changing the course of a moving asteroid, launching the autonomously navigated satellite on a collision course. If successful, a change in the post-impact course of the celestial body will be visible in ground-based measurements. A successful test would mean that Earth need not be entirely defenseless forever, and that a constellation of defensive satellites could intercept and divert dangerous spacefaring missiles of natural origin before they imperil the globe or its ecology. (The cost of such an endeavor, like many experimental programs, is a problem for future bean counters best ignored during the “cool phase” of experimentation.)

Dimorphos is the smaller of a binary near-Earth asteroid pair, measuring about 530 feet in size to its elder brother Didymos’ 2,560 ft diameter. The asteroid as it stands lies far outside the danger zone of Earth, making it a suitable test target as a small, measurable, observable body to gauge the efficacy of a kinetic course correction. Much remains to be learned from the mission, from the level of computer simulation accuracy to the quantity of asteroid ejecta produced from a manmade body’s impact. 

In the weeks leading up to the event, NASA will host a few media briefings and highlights as they drum up enthusiasm for the upcoming mission. First, a hybrid media day on September 12 held at the DART mission operations center at the Applied Physics Laboratory will showcase the technology required for the program. Additional updates and briefings will follow after the 26th - Impact Day. 

FMI: www.nasa.gov