NASA will carry out verification experiments on how to protect the earth by colliding the spacecraft against asteroid approaching the earth in 2022

In the near future, the plan of the space experiment that the artifact collides with the asteroid which possibly collides with the earth and there is a possibility to collide and disengages from the earth approaching orbit is approved, and NASA is planning for implementation in 2022 We announced that it entered the stage of.

NASA'S First Asteroid Deflection Mission Enters Next Design Phase | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-first-asteroid-deflection-mission-enters-next-design-phase

NASA unveils plan to test asteroid defense technique
https://www.click2houston.com/news/national/nasa-unveils-plan-to-test-asteroid-defense-technique

This plan is called "DART mission" (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) which NASA is collaborating with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and is called "twin" in Greek for "Double Asteroid Redirection Test" It is targeted to the dual asteroid "Didymos" meaning. Didymos is a pair of astronomers with a diameter of 160 meters called "Didymos B" circling around a 780-meter-diameter object called "Didymos A", and Didymos B is also known as "Didymouth" (Didymos + Moon) It is called.

In NASA's plan, we change the trajectory by letting the spacecraft of the size as large as the refrigerator head towards Didymos launched from the earth with a rocket and letting it collide with Didymos B at a high speed of 6 km / sec. After that, Didymos B, which has gone mad in orbit, changes the trajectories themselves by approaching and colliding with Didymus A.


In addition, Didymos used in this experiment is a planet that there is no danger of colliding with the Earth. When colliding with the spacecraft, we plan to investigate the composition, density, etc. of asteroids by observing changes in surface temperature and scattering dust and gas using equipment such as infrared camera.

Dart Moon Collision - YouTube


This method is called "Kinetic · Impactor Technique", and it is one of the multiple astronomical orbit change technologies considered. Although the energy given by the collision of the spacecraft is small, it has been devised as being able to avoid the danger of collision by increasing the gap while approaching the earth after a long time thereafter.

Lindsay Johnson, who is in charge of defense against asteroid hazards at NASA, said, "DART is the first mission to implement kinetic and impactor techniques aimed at avoiding future planetary collisions.Through this approval, A new step will be taken towards the implementation of historical experiments using planets that do not have the danger of colliding with the planet. "

Space development agencies such as NASA observe celestial bodies that may approach the Earth and are investigating the danger level, but it is also obvious that only about 10% is actually being grasped It is getting. It is very difficult to find things that literally "have as many stars" as there are stars, and they do not emit light themselves, and the meteorite dropped in Russia in 2013Meteorite fall of Chelyabinsk provinceIt is difficult to understand also from the fact that no prior detection was done.

Only 10% of asteroids that are likely to collide with the earth can be found yet - GIGAZINE


The DART mission will be implemented as part of the AIDA (Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment) mission to collaborate with the ESA (European Space Agency) and others. First of all, ESA launches the space observation machine "Asteroid Impact Monitor" (AIM: asteroid collision observation machine) to reach Didymos and conducts observation in advance. And DART has reached the AIM with a delay of 4 months and reached Didymos, it is a magnificent plan that actually conflicts and confirms the change of the orbit.

Asteroid Impact Mission - YouTube