It used to take Dimorphos eleven hours and 55 minutes to orbit its older brother Didymos, now it takes eleven hours and 23 minutes. “We’ve shown the world that NASA is a serious advocate for this planet,” Nelson said.
The DART space probe collided with the celestial body on September 26 at a speed of more than 23,000 kilometers per hour. It was the first maneuver in space to test defense against an Earth-threatening asteroid. To steer a dangerous asteroid past Earth in an emergency, only minimal course changes would be needed with early intervention.
goal exceeded
NASA’s goal was to shorten Dimorphos’ orbit by up to ten minutes. This target has already been significantly exceeded: the reduction is 32 minutes.
Until now, similar missions had only been seen in the movies – keyword “Armageddon”. Far from fiction, astronomers are currently unaware of any threatening asteroids. Still, NASA wanted to be prepared. “We are now entering a new era for humanity where we may have the ability to protect ourselves against an asteroid impact,” NASA Executive Director Lori Glaze said after the maneuver.
Portal/NASA The asteroid Dimorphos a few seconds before the probe’s impact
NASA chief sees turning point
“This mission shows that NASA is trying to be prepared for whatever the universe throws at us. NASA has proven that we are serious about defending the planet,” said Space Agency chief Bill Nelson. He called the mission’s success a “watershed moment” in protecting humanity from an asteroid impact. months, the impact of the collision will now be investigated.In 2024, the similar mission “Hera” of the European Space Agency (ESA) is due to start for even more detailed exploration.
Relief already on mission day
In images transmitted back to Earth by the spacecraft’s camera, the asteroid Dimorphos only became visible as a bright dot about an hour before impact, then grew in size and finally appeared with surface detail and shading – until the camera was moved. destroyed on impact and this image displayed a red error.
In late September there was relief at the NASA control center. Traveling at 6.4 kilometers per second, the probe was on autopilot for the last few minutes and it was not entirely clear whether it would actually hit the asteroid.
distraction instead of destruction
NASA’s $325 million Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission put the “Security of Earth’s Future” on the line for NASA. It is the first time that a dangerous object has been taken out of the way with a direct experiment, NASA scientific director Thomas Zurbuchen said in advance. The DART spacecraft was launched last November with a “Falcon 9” rocket from the US state of California.
try it without danger
There was no danger in the experiment. Dimorphos, about 160 meters in diameter, and the larger 780-meter asteroid Didymos, which Dimorphos orbits, were at least 11 million kilometers from Earth. If the spacecraft had missed the asteroid’s moon, it would have had enough fuel for a second attempt in two years.
APA/AFP/Jim Watson NASA wanted to be prepared for possible asteroids dangerous to Earth with the space rescue experiment
The DART mission was accompanied by telescopes on Earth and the James Webb Space Telescope, as well as on-site cameras. The spacecraft’s own camera system sent images of Dimorphos back to Earth up to the point of impact. After that, a toaster-sized satellite, which detached from the DART spacecraft a few weeks ago, is expected to take over, pass the collision site and provide close-up images.
27,000 asteroids near Earth
In 2024, ESA will send the Hera spacecraft on a two-year journey to study the collision site and surface of Dimorphos in more detail. In the next 100 years, scientists don’t see any asteroids threatening Earth. If you wait long enough, there will be an object, Zurbuchen said. Scientists have identified around 27,000 asteroids near Earth, around 10,000 of which are over 140 meters in diameter.
An asteroid impact has already happened. 66 million years ago, the asteroid Chicxulub, about 10 kilometers in diameter, struck what is now Mexico, causing a permanent winter and being associated with the extinction of the dinosaurs.