Neither Dimorphos nor Didymos pose any threat to Earth. DART’s mission was to help scientists figure out if a similar impact could nudge a potentially hazardous asteroid out of harm’s way before it hits our planet.
The experiment was a smashing success. Before the impact, Dimorphos orbited Didymos every 11 hours and 55 minutes. After,A small spacecraft called LICIACube, short for Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids, detached from DART just before impact, then buzzed the two asteroids to get a closeup view of the cosmic smashup.
Four telescopes in Chile and South Africa observed the asteroids every night after the impact. The telescopes can’t see the asteroids separately, but they can detect periodic changes in brightness as the asteroids eclipse each other. All four telescopes saw eclipses consistent with an 11-hour, 23-minute orbit.
The minimum change for the DART team to declare success was 73 seconds — a hurdle the mission overshot by more than 30 minutes. The team thinks the spectacular plume of debris that the impactor kicked up gave the mission extra oomph. The impact itself gave some momentum to the asteroid, but the debris flying off in the other direction pushed it even more — like a temporary rocket engine.
“This is a very exciting and promising result for planetary defense,” Chabot said. But the change in orbital period was just 4 percent. “It just gave it a small nudge,” she said. So knowing an asteroid is coming is crucial to future success. For something similar to work on an asteroid headed for Earth, “you’d want to do it years in advance,” Chabot said.
WOW! Etwas echt Gute, wenn etwas wirklich funktioniert! L. G. Su 👍💯😳😁!
Only if they notice it before many seen just a day before or after passing WHAT ABT THEM
Don’t worry In terms of Planet Destruction We can DIY
Thanks for subtly saving the planet, NASA.
And 200 years later, it hit the Earth, and wiped it all out.
Amazing!
In the 90's we discovered that the important thing to move 'killer orbit' asteroids is the Energy delivered to the target, not the momentum. Nuclear rocket uses same principle: 1 ton uranium can supply energy to 1 million tons water propellant and push 100 kTon spacecraft.
Awesome 😍
NASA started a fight with a innocent astroid 😲
Beginning of the end
And put it in a path certain to collide with us? Or don't they know? Dangerous toys in the hands of children.
thats really significant news and tech, but i wonder if we change the orbit of this space rock and if they are rotating around a star/black hole/planet, the change in the trajectory might create issues for the next cycle, like what if accidently we create more chaos ?
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