from the turns-out-there-was-a-Didymos-shattering-kaboom dept.
NASA's DART successfully collides with asteroid
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully hit its target at 7:14 PM Eastern on Monday. The asteroid they were aiming at was 11 million km away, and controllers believe the impact was within 20m of the precise point they were aiming for.
While measurements and analysis are expected to continue for years, it appears that humanity may now have a tool for deflecting asteroids that are detected heading towards planet Earth, enabling us to not go the way of the dinosaurs.
Ground Telescopes Capture Jaw-Dropping Views of DART Asteroid Impact
Telescopes around the world were focused on the binary asteroid system. Going into the experiment, it wasn't clear how visible the impact might be from Earth, but the images we're seeing from the ground clearly show a substantial plume emanating from Didymos.
"It is hard to comment on the stunning experience we had last night," wrote the Virtual Telescope project in a blog post. "We saw in real-time, with our very own eyes, the effects of DART slamming into its target asteroid Didymos, making it much brighter, with a huge cloud of debris." [...]
[...] I'm struck by the size of the plume, but it's difficult to tell if the impact kicked up a lot of material or if these views are a function of really bright dust. Views of Dimorphos's surface looked very rubble pile-like, suggesting a loose conglomeration of materials. If that's the case, Dimorphos may have done tremendous damage to the asteroid, but we need more data to be sure. At the very least, DART produced a substantial cloud of dust.
Definitely worth clicking through and seeing the time-lapse images from the ground. [hubie]
Related Stories
The orbital change was even bigger than scientists expected:
It worked! Humanity has, for the first time, purposely moved a celestial object.
As a test of a potential asteroid-deflection scheme, NASA's DART spacecraft shortened the orbit of asteroid Dimorphos by 32 minutes — a far greater change than astronomers expected.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, rammed into the tiny asteroid at about 22,500 kilometers per hour on September 26 (SN: 9/26/22). The goal was to move Dimorphos slightly closer to the larger asteroid it orbits, Didymos.
[...] 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. An upcoming space telescope called Near Earth Asteroid Surveyor is one of many projects intended to give that early warning.
Previously:
NASA's DART Asteroid Impact Test Left a Trail Over 6,000 Miles Long
New Hubble and Webb Images Capture Aftermath of DART Asteroid Smash Up
NASA's DART Successfully Collides With Asteroid and Makes a Show
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 28 2022, @08:08PM (5 children)
Too bad we couldn't have one or more cameras positioned close to the asteroid. The view from ten miles (or less?) distance would have been truly awesome! That would have at least doubled the cost of the mission though.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Sjolfr on Wednesday September 28 2022, @08:42PM (2 children)
The mission parameters have a LICIACube satellite positioned for observation/data collection/photo/video so I would hope to see some of that eventually.
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/pdco/index.html [nasa.gov]
Go down to "Key Objectives"
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday September 28 2022, @09:56PM (1 child)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03067-y [nature.com]
Here's a LICIACube image.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday September 29 2022, @12:51AM
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-images-from-italian-space-agency-s-liciacube-satellite [nasa.gov]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Sjolfr on Wednesday September 28 2022, @08:45PM
And here are the DRACO images just prior to impact
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/dart-s-final-images-prior-to-impact [nasa.gov]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2022, @09:08PM
DART did kick out a little cubesat with a camera on it to do just what you mentioned. They released one image [scitechdaily.com], but since that little cubesat has such a small antenna, it is going to take a while to get more images down.
ESA has a mission called Hera [doi.org] that will fly back to the asteroid to see what damage was done, but that mission doesn't launch until 2024 and won't get there until late 2026.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday September 28 2022, @10:01PM (5 children)
Humanity should be capturing asteroids and bringing them into orbit around the Earth, Moon, or just nearby. For cash money. Land them on Earth if possible.
Also, I want to see the paint method in action:
https://today.tamu.edu/2013/02/21/asteroids-no-match-for-paint-gun-says-prof/ [tamu.edu]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Peristaltic on Wednesday September 28 2022, @11:16PM (2 children)
While you're at it, put an ice-rich one in orbit for fuel, water and air for the moon colony. If you get the right one, I think it would be cheaper than mining the stuff on the moon, and definitely cheaper than dragging water up the well. Once you get manufacturing to the point of self-sustainability on or around the moon, you can go anywhere a hell of a lot cheaper and quicker.
Right now with asteroids we may be the cosmic equivalent of kids in cars smacking mailboxes with baseball bats, but if we put in some effort it could work. Put up 2 or 3 percent of the planet's collective defense budget and we might have an asteroid on its way here before 2030.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 29 2022, @12:59AM
Don't forget that interstellar asteroids are zipping in and out of the solar system constantly. Huge wads of money being dangled out of reach and disappearing forever.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday September 29 2022, @07:56AM
Most of those materials are worth a lot more in orbit than on the ground, especially once we get on orbit manufacturing going.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Informative) by bart9h on Thursday September 29 2022, @03:27AM
Yeah, man.
Don't look up.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday October 01 2022, @11:52AM
Don't hold your breath, tak, the space technology of today offers a solution for neither.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday September 28 2022, @11:44PM (1 child)
I realize the math is pretty straight forward. The implementation however is not. Within 20 meters of target is impressive for hitting a moving object in space.
(I think)
(Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Thursday September 29 2022, @12:56AM
When I read that, it seemed like a bad outcome. If you want to precisely manipulate the orbit of a 160-meter asteroid, doesn't hitting 20 meters off target affect that?
Earth was destroyed.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mrpg on Thursday September 29 2022, @12:05AM
You say that like it's a bad thing (tm).