The dual asteroid re-orientation test (DART) spacecraft could be launched as early as July. The spaceship will travel 11 million kilometers and collide with the smaller part of the asteroid binary Didymus system, pushing the asteroid to deflect it slightly from its current path. The asteroid's propulsion has been planned for September 2022.
Shortly before the collision, a shoebox-sized satellite built by NASA's partners in Italy will separate from the rocket to help scientists study the asteroid's trajectory after the collision and determine whether the mission was successful.
Andy Rifkin, a member of the double asteroid forwarding test (DART) investigation team, told VICE News, So far, we haven't had a lot of options for what we might do if we find something coming. The 'asteroid double re-orientation test' is the first test to measure our ability to disperse something without having to resort to a nuclear beam, or sitting in our cellars and waiting for it to end, hoping it will end well.
Diagram of the Dual Asteroid Re-Forward Test mission showing the spaceship on a collision course with the asteroid Didymus moon. (NASA / Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory)
Recent Mars exploration missions, the use of satellites to tackle climate change, and plans to land the first woman and next man on the moon have made headlines. But NASA has also scored quieter victories, such as successfully collecting samples from an asteroid last October.
Didymus does not threaten Earth, but the dual asteroid re-orientation test mission will prepare NASA to deal with an asteroid that might as well be. It is worth noting that approximately once every year, an asteroid the size of a vehicle collides with the Earth's atmosphere but burns before reaching the surface of the planet. And NASA says that major impacts, which cause massive damage, may occur once every 2,000 years, while an object that may actually threaten civilization only comes once every few million years.
The double asteroid re-orientation test (DART) spacecraft's strike is expected to alter the trajectory of the asteroid Didymus, also known as Didymus B, by only 1 percent. Scientists have worked for years to find out how they will measure this change and other effects on Didymus B. The imaging technology in the 'double asteroid re-orientation test' is; And the Italian Space Agency's Small Asteroid Imaging Satellite (LICIACube); And telescopic observations from the ground, all of this will help NASA monitor the mission.
Angela Steckel, chair of the Impact Simulation Working Group of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory said, we need to anticipate a wide range of possibilities and predict their results so that after a spacecraft collides with the dual asteroid re-orientation test. Didymus B, we'll know what our measurements tell us.