Aug 24, 2022 13:21:00

NASA finally conducts an experiment of earth defense technology that hits the spacecraft against the asteroid and shifts the orbit

by NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben

The world's first mission '

DART ' will be carried out on technology to protect the earth by intentionally colliding a controlled spacecraft with an asteroid or comet approaching the earth to shift the orbit.

NASA Invites Media to Witness World's First Planetary Defense Test | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-media-to-witness-world-s-first-planetary-defense-test

DART was approved in 2017 and has been advanced on a schedule to conduct experiments in 2022.

NASA will conduct a verification experiment in 2022 on how to protect the earth by colliding a spacecraft with an asteroid approaching the earth - GIGAZINE

NASA's ultimate goal is to establish technology to shift the orbits of asteroids and comets that pose a threat to the Earth. Validation is done.

The target of DART is 'Dimorphos' with a diameter of about 160 m, which is one of the near-Earth asteroids and is orbiting 'Didymos' with a diameter of about 780 m.

By comparing the orbits of the binary star, which was shifted by the DART collision with Demorphos, and the simulation results, we can evaluate the effectiveness of the DART and how it can best be applied to future Earth defense scenarios. And an evaluation of the accuracy of how much the simulation reflects the actual behavior is done.

The spacecraft's impact on Dimorphos is scheduled for September 26, 2022 at 19:17 local time.