DART will be the first mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection by a kinetic impactor.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 49231 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-23-2021 06:52 PM
NASA live video
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is a spacecraft designed to impact an asteroid as a test of technology to see if it can change the motion of an asteroid in space. DART's target is the asteroid Didymos and its moonlet, which pose no threat to Earth.
This mission is targeted to launch at 1:21 a.m. EST, Nov. 24 (06:21 UTC), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
SpaceX live video
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 49231 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-26-2022 12:07 AM
NASA release
Witness World's First Planetary Defense Test
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world's first mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, will impact its target asteroid — which poses no threat to Earth — at 7:14 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 26.
This test will show a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it to change the asteroid's motion in a way that can be measured using ground-based telescopes. DART will provide important data to help better prepare for an asteroid that might pose an impact hazard to Earth, should one ever be discovered.
Monday, Sept. 26 (DART Impact Day)
6 p.m. – Live coverage of DART's impact with the asteroid Dimorphos will air on NASA TV and the agency's website. The public also can watch live on agency social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
7:14 p.m. – DART's kinetic impact with asteroid Dimorphos.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 49231 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-26-2022 12:07 AM
NASA video
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) has one single instrument onboard – the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation, aka the DRACO camera. DRACO serves as the spacecraft's eye and will guide DART to its final destination: impact with asteroid Dimorphos.
The stream you're watching is a real-time feed from the DART spacecraft enabled through the DRACO camera sending one image per second to Earth. In the hours before impact, the screen will appear mostly black, with a single point of light. That point is the binary asteroid system Didymos which is made up of a larger asteroid named Didymos and a smaller asteroid that orbits around it called Dimorphos. As the 7:14 p.m. EDT (23:14 UTC) impact of asteroid Dimorphos nears closer, the point of light will get bigger and eventually detailed asteroids will be visible.
At 7:14 p.m., the DART spacecraft is slated to intentionally crash into asteroid Dimorphos. This stream will be delayed due to the time it takes the images to arrive at Earth, plus additional time for feeding the images to various platforms.
After impact, the feed will turn black – due to a loss of signal. After about 2 minutes, this stream will turn into a replay – showing the final moments leading up to impact. That replay file will also become available on NASA websites and social media accounts.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3514 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 09-26-2022 03:50 PM
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world's first mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, will impact its target asteroid...
It may be the first mission intended to deflect its target, but let's not forget that in 2005, NASA struck Comet Tempel-1 with an 820 lb impactor travelling at a relative impact velocity of 23,000 mph. The Deep Impact collision had the force of 4.7 tons of TNT and made a crater 490 feet in diameter.
Changing the orbit/trajectory of Tempel-1 may not have been part of the mission, but I assume that such an impact must necessarily have changed the comet's trajectory to some extent, even if that change could not be detected from Earth. (If a change in trajectory was ever seen, details would be appreciated!)
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 49231 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-26-2022 05:04 PM
I am not aware (and after a quick search could not find) mention of any measurements being taken or determined with regards to Tempel-1's change in trajectory, but then that wasn't the purpose of the Deep Impact mission.
One of the key components of the DART mission is that is targeting a binary asteroid system for which the orbital period can be precisely measured by Earth-based telescopes. It is because of that characteristic that NASA will be able to determine the extent to which DART was capable of changing Dimorphos' motion.
Headshot Member
Posts: 1129 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 09-26-2022 06:37 PM
The changes brought about by the Deep Impact collision with Tempel I were calculatable, but not measurable. According to the June 2005 issue of Sky and Telescope, the impact changed the comet's velocity by 0.0001 millimeters per second. It decreased Tempel I's perihelion distance by 10 meters and its orbital period by less than one second.
SpaceCadet1983 Member
Posts: 410 From: Pacific NW, United States Registered: May 2012
posted 09-26-2022 07:35 PM
WE DID IT! Very emotional moment up to and including impact. Probably the most exciting space mission I've seen since the Apollo moon landings!
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3514 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 09-26-2022 07:53 PM
BULLSEYE! Well done, NASA!
quote:Originally posted by Headshot: ...the impact changed the comet's velocity by 0.0001 millimeters per second.
As Robert points out, it was not part of the Deep Impact plan to change the orbit of Tempel-1, but thank you for showing that some tiny changes were likely made. That gives me added confidence that larger and significant changes to the orbit of Dimorphos have just been made by the DART impact. The actual results should be fascinating.
Dave_Johnson Member
Posts: 142 From: Registered: Feb 2014
posted 09-26-2022 11:38 PM
Twitter post from the ATLAS project showing the impact as seen from Earth.
oly Member
Posts: 1424 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 09-27-2022 03:34 AM
That was cool.
Gilbert Member
Posts: 1462 From: Carrollton, GA USA Registered: Jan 2003
posted 09-27-2022 08:55 AM
Simply awesome!
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3514 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 09-28-2022 04:18 PM
After the incredible quality of the DART impact images, I can't help feeling that we have been let down by the quality of the LICIACube impact images. They have all the sharpness of a 1960s Tiros weather-satellite.
I trust they will undergo extensive computer-enhancement, but I can't help wondering why an off-the-shelf digital camera on Juno can send back sharp and amazing pictures of Jupiter, while the LICIA camera, transmitting from 11 million miles away, produces fuzzy images with a very noisy background.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 49231 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-28-2022 05:58 PM
JunoCam is photographing a much (much, much) larger body from orbit after being targeted by controllers on Earth, whereas the cameras on LICIACube had to autonomously target a very small asteroid from a safe distance away (about 35 miles or 55 kilometers).
Headshot Member
Posts: 1129 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 09-29-2022 12:03 PM
Considering the amount of debris from the collision of DART with Dimorphos seen by Earth based telescopes, I was very relieved that the LICIA cubesat was not destroyed or damaged by the ejecta.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3514 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 09-29-2022 04:46 PM
While noting the points made by Robert and Headshot, I remain underwhelmed by the LICIA Cube image quality. The space background in the images is inherently "noisy" and Didymos looks more like a mushroom than an asteroid. I realise that's probably in order to capture the fainter Dimorphos and the post-impact debris, but I really hope computer enhancement can clean up the images.
By the way, since I previously mentioned JunoCam, it's worth taking a look at how a cheap off-the-shelf digital camera has just taken stunningly sharp images of Europa.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 49231 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-11-2022 09:58 AM
NASA will host a briefing at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 11, to provide an update on the DART mission. The briefing will air on NASA TV.
Participants include:
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
Italian Space Agency President Giorgio Saccoccia
DART update panel:
Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Tom Statler, DART program scientist at NASA Headquarters
Nancy Chabot, DART coordination lead at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 49231 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-11-2022 01:07 PM
The DART team has confirmed that the spacecraft's impact altered Dimorphos orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes. DART shortened its 11 hour and 55 minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes.
posted 11-23-2021 06:36 PM
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