Posted on 09/21/2022 11:34:32 AM PDT by Red Badger
About 6.8 million miles from home, NASA will send a spacecraft to its end. You can watch live on Sept. 26.
ANIMATION AT LINK......
This animation shows what it might look like when DART dives into the Didymos dirt. ESA–ScienceOffice.org
NASA's DART spacecraft isn't long for this world -- and it's going out with a bang.
After launching atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Nov. 24, 2021, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test probe has its sights firmly locked on the asteroid Didymos and its tiny companion rock, Dimorphos. On Sept. 26, DART will careen into Dimorphos at about 14,000 miles per hour. You can watch along live, and we've got all the details here.
First, we should reiterate there's no need to be alarmed. This asteroid pair poses no threat to Earth. The mission is designed as a test run for planetary defense with the intention of proving that a deep space collision can alter the orbit of a space rock. The carefully arranged death dive will destroy the DART and, if all goes to plan, alter the orbit of Dimorphos around its parent Didymos ever so slightly.
In recent weeks, the team from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory have been assessing the asteroid pair from a distance, making sure we have a firm understanding of the asteroids' orbits. Once DART has been destroyed, ground-based space telescopes will evaluate Didymos and Dimorphos to see just how much the orbit has changed.
The $308 million spacecraft's lone instrument is the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO) and it will be switched on for final dive, taking a photograph every second. Another tiny satellite, which snuck out of DART on the way to its target, will also be watching.
About three minutes or so after the collision, the shoebox-size cube (known as the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging Asteroids) will take high-res photos of the crash site and the damage done to the 525-foot asteroid. Another mission, scheduled to launch in 2024, will also rendezvous with Didymos sometime in 2026.
But that's for later, for now, here's how you can see DART's demise.
How to watch NASA's DART coverage NASA's DART death is primetime viewing on Monday, happening just a few hours before the big Monday Night Football matchup between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys.
The spacecraft will collide with Dimorphos at 4:14 p.m. PT/7:14 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 26. Live coverage is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET via NASA TV.
Our YouTube channel, CNET Highlights, will have two streams. The main livestream and a feed from the spacecraft's DRACO camera. NASA notes that the feed will mostly be black once it switches on, but as the spacecraft approaches, the asteroid pair will come into view. It should be pretty thrilling.
Here's how that time translates to different zones:
US: Sep. 26, 4:14 p.m. PT/7:14 p.m. ET Brazil: Sep. 26 , 8:14 p.m. (Federal District) UK: Sep. 26, 11:14 p.m. South Africa: Sep. 27, 1:14 a.m. Russia: Sep. 27, 2:14 a.m. (Moscow) United Arab Emirates: Sep. 27, 3:14 a.m. India: Sep. 27, 4:44 a.m. China: Sep. 27, 7:14 a.m. Japan: Sep. 27, 8:14 a.m. Australia: Sep. 27, 9:14 a.m. AEST Sounds awesome. Where can I find out more about DART? We're glad you asked.
When DART launched back in November 2021, CNET's Monisha Ravisetti put together this handy explainer about the mission and its goals. The team at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory also has a ton of resources about the mission, including handy interactives and the latest updates.
Make sure to check back here for the livestream links closer to launch and check out CNET Science for more space stories.
Is Bruce Willis on that Dart?
“Didymos and its tiny companion rock, Dimorphos.”
Wish I would have known about this earlier. Would have made good names for the kittens.
There’s already one automobile in space.......................
Cool.
Now do it with an explosive charge.
What could go wrong?
Looks like that asteroid gets very close to earth—according to that graphic.
Haha, it will put the once harmless asteroid on a new collision course with Earth? 🤣
you would think they would put just a few more seconds of time into that animation... fkn people are lazy...
“Haha, it will put the once harmless asteroid on a new collision course with Earth?”
That is a very just and fair question. Considering gross incompetence.
“The mission is designed as a test run for planetary defense with the intention of proving that a deep space collision can alter the orbit of a space rock.”
If it is not designed to alter it how would they then know it did alter it? You can bet it has explosives and will alter it somehow. Away or towards is the question...
They need to stop playing with these things...
I see, they're suggesting it's, "Asteroid impact night spectacular" followed by Monday night football. A TV extravaganza...Will there be riots if the impact is a dud? Of course, they may riot if it cracks the rock in half as well.
This kind of research and testing is long overdue.
Slim Pickens.
Once again, an example of the utter incompetence of our educational system. **Sigh**
At the speeds involved, the energy of the impact far exceeds that of any explosive that could be carried onboard, short of a nuclear weapon. Basically, DART is a kinetic weapon.
E = 1/2*M*(V^2). Or, see Heinlein "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress".
If it is not designed to alter it how would they then know it did alter it?
Observation.
And, of course the idea is to alter the orbit. But, there are a lot of questions.
How accurately can we hit the asteroid?
Can we hit the center of mass? (An off-center of mass hit would tend to spin the asteroid, causing less deflection.)
How "spongy" is the asteroid? A hard splash on the surface sending debris to the "side" would impart less energy to the orbit change than a "softer" hit. (I'd guess we are talking about microsecond differences in the propogation of the explosion, but, basically we want to nudge the thing, not create fireworks.)
Is this asteroid a pile of gravel or dirty snowball we might split up or is it cohesive enough to stay together? (This also depends on the mass of the impactor and its speed relative to the asteroid.)
This asteroid is one of a binary pair. It should be interesting to see the effect on the orbit of the 2nd asteroid.
And so on.
I watched the NASA Livestream, which varied from amateurish to very good. The mission (so far) was a great success, but I could not believe NASA can’t come up with a better subtitle generator.
For example, “the Dart’s impact is going to be an incredible moment” became “the darts eat bugs is going to be an incredible moment”. Among numerous other thigh slappers.
“My name is Ian Carnelli...” subtitled into “My name is Young Colonel Lee”. Why do I think this generator translates into Korean and then to English...? (Have had some experience with the results of such, just with humans only involved.)
Ok, so the guy had a bit of an accent...
It did liven things up a bit. :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RA8Tfa6Sck
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