Update September 27 , 2022 : NASA confirmed DART successfully collided with asteroid Dimorphos at 7:14 necropsy ET on September 26 . you could see theawesome footage of the smash hereand even footage of the collisioncaptured by worldly concern - ground telescopes here .
Today , Monday , September 26 , NASA ’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test(DART)mission will test humanity ’s capableness to vary the path of an asteroid by thrash into Dimorphos , a minor moonlet orb the larger asteroid Didymos . The asteroids pose no threat to Earth but will allow NASA to test a essential approach toplanetary defensein a manner that is safe for our satellite , and we can all look on along .
The spacecraft has already had an exciting few week . The investigation get itsfirst scene of Didymos(above ) , which is roughly 780 - measure - wide of the mark ( 2,560 feet ) across , and DART releasedLICIAcube , a lowly ballistic capsule from the Italian Space Agency , which has a camera to image the impact and document the outcome of DART on Dimorphus once it slam dance into it .
DART will shift the orbit of Dimoprphos around Didymos. Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
Why is NASA crashing into an asteroid?
Is this payback for the dinosaur ? No , what the mission is doing will help us nudge asteroids aside so that we do not end up like all the species that did n’t survive theChicxulubimpact .
NASA is transport a probe to purposely collide with an asteroid to set if " energising impact " is an effectual way of changing the course of study of any hazardous space rocks heading our way . The spacecraft will slam into the 160 - meter - spacious ( 525 groundwork ) moonlet at around 24,140 kilometers per time of day ( 15,000 miles per hr ) shift its kinetic energy to the smaller asteroid , pushing it nigher to its larger companion . If it work , Dimorphus will orbit Didymos at the very least 73 seconds quicker than before .
Just to be clean , there are no known objects with trajectories that take out Earth currently , including the aim of this mission , but it ’s best to be prepared . AsNASA place it : " Planetary defense mechanism is find asteroids before they find us . "
" These objects are hurtling through space and have of course of study scarred the Moon and , over time , also on Earth have had major impacts , have affected our account , " Thomas Zurbuchen , NASA ’s associate administrator for scientific discipline , said during anews conference .
" DART is a first delegacy to seek to really happen out of the room an object of threat in a direct experiment . "
What will happen when NASA’s probe hits the asteroid?
The impingement is due to take space on Monday , September 26 at 7:14 postmortem ET ( 11:14 pm UTC ) and this is how it will unfold .
The ballistic capsule will continue to take film of the approach until two seconds from shock . It is uncertain if this will be portion out with the public right away or after it ’s done . The whole space vehicle weighs around 500 kilograms ( 1,100 pounds ) , about that of a modest car , and will be locomote at 6.6 kilometre ( 4.1 miles ) per second .
The goal is to reduce the velocity of Dimorphus by 0.4 millimeters per second , a tiny amount but enough to create an appreciative modification over time . By reducing its velocity , the moonlet will move closer to Didymus . The squad expects that its eventual orbital period , presently at a very predictable 11 hours and 55 minute , will be reduced by about 10 instant
If an asteroid was do toward us , that could be salutary enough to deflect catastrophe as long as we acted with raft of clock time to spare .
How to watch NASA crash into an asteroid
The main upshot will have live insurance coverage on allNASA ’s channels , including Youtube , Facebook , and Twitter , where member of the commission will talk over what ’s going to chance and share the skill and brainwave of DART and the asteroid . The impact is scheduled for 7:14 pm ET on Monday , Sept. 26 and the televised briefing will start at 6 pm ET ( 10 necropsy UTC ) .
you could also surveil along thanks to our friends at theVirtual Telescope Projectas they are running a live scope observation of the wallop , hoping to spot an increment in brightness from the hit .
We can even follow along long after the ( hopefully ) successful impact . LICIACube will fly preceding three days after encroachment and will provide images of the volcanic crater and take some initial mensuration , but the true follow - up will be theHera missionfrom the European Space Agency . It will get in at the binary asteroid system in 2027 and will leave a elaborated psychoanalysis of the force of DART on Dimorphos .
Until then , ground - based telescopes will keep an eye on the system and provide update on how the orbit alternation is pass .
