Hello guys, welcome to GKPREP. In this post, I have written about the world’s first DART Mission launched by NASA. The USA space agency NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has recently launched the world’s first DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). The main goal of the DART mission is just to test the newly developed technology in which a spacecraft is being intentionally crashed into an asteroid and change its speed, trajectory, and course. A total budget of $325 million has been set aside for the project. The mission was launched into orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California over a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at around 11:50 AM (IST) on November 24, 2021.
What is the DART mission?
The DART mission is directed by NASA to the Johns Hopkins APL (Applied Physics Laboratory) with the help from several departments of NASA, like the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center), JSC (Johnson Space Center), GRC (Glenn Research Center), and LaRC (Langley Research Center).
DART mission is just a planetary defense-driven test of new science and technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a dangerous asteroid to avoid a situation like the extinction of dinosaurs. DART mission will be the first test of new science and the kinetic impactor technology to alter an asteroid’s speed and route (trajectory) in space. For NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office and the Science Project Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, the DART mission is coordinated by APL and managed by NASA’s Solar System Exploration Program at Marshall Space Flight Center.
DART is a spacecraft that will collide with an asteroid to test new science and technology. DART is following an asteroid that causes no harm to Earth. Should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future, this asteroid system provides a suitable testing system or ground to evaluate if purposely crashing a spaceship into an asteroid is a practical approach to adjust its speed, direction, and trajectory. While no asteroid bigger than 140 meters is known to have a high possibility of colliding with Earth in the next 100 years, only approximately 40% of such asteroids have been discovered as of October 2021.
Which asteroid will be deflected by the Dart spacecraft?
The mission’s target is Dimorphos, a small moonlet (secondary body in a system) with the Greek name “two forms.” It has a diameter of 160 meters and is projected to collide with a spacecraft when it is 11 million kilometers distant from Earth.
Didymos is a 780-meter-diameter large asteroid (primary body in a system) named after the Greek word “twin,” orbits Dimorphous. Dimorphous and Didymos are both near-Earth asteroid members of the Didymos binary system (65803). The Didymos binary is being extensively observed by Earth-based telescopes before DART arrives to determine its characteristics precisely.
The spacecraft will journey to the asteroid Dimophos using an onboard camera (dubbed DRACO) and advanced autonomous navigation algorithms and intentionally collide with it at a speed of about 24,000 kilometers per hour or 6. 6 kilometers per second, allowing observations by ground-based telescopes and planetary radar to measure the change in momentum imparted to the moonlet.
Between September 26 and October 1, 2022, a collision is expected to occur. A fraction of a percent will speed up the moonlet’s orbit around the parent planet due to the collision. Still, the orbital period of the moonlet will vary by several minutes, which may be detected and recorded using telescopes on Earth.
It’s a suicide mission, and the impact will destroy the ship. Various telescopes will monitor the occurrence and investigate the impact of DART – changes in the moonlet’s speed and orbit — from around the world.
Why did NASA choose Dimorphos?
Didymos is an ideal system for the test mission, according to Nancy Chabot, DART Mission Coordination Lead and Planetary Scientist for Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. It’s an eclipsing binary, meaning it contains a moonlet that circles the main asteroid regularly and can be seen when it passes in front of it. This brightness change may be studied with Earth-based telescopes to calculate how long Dimorphos takes to orbit Didymos. “The DART collision will take place when the Didymos system is closest to Earth. As a consequence, the telescopes will be capable of making the most precise measurements possible. She explains.
How big is the DART spacecraft?
DART is a low-cost spacecraft, according to NASA, weighing roughly 610 kg at launch and 550 kg during the impact. The basic construction is a box with dimensions of (1.2 1.3 1.3 meters). It’s equipped with Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSA), which will supply enough solar power for DART’s electric propulsion system.
The spaceship is propelled by hydrazine propellant. It also contains roughly 10 kg of xenon gas (fuel), which will be used to test NASA’s new thrusters in orbit, known as the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster–Commercial (NEXT-C). The NEXT-C system is based on NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio’s Dawn spacecraft propulsion system. DART might gain a lot of mission flexibility by adopting electric propulsion while demonstrating the next generation of ion engine technology, which could be employed in future NASA missions.
Last year, NASA noted in a statement that “NEXT has extraordinarily high fuel efficiency and flexible operations, making it well-suited for a wide range of research missions.”
The Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation onboard the spacecraft is a high-resolution imager (DRACO). The photos from DRACO will be sent to Earth in real-time, allowing researchers to learn more about Dimphos’ speed and orbit, as well as the impact site and surface of Dimorphos.
DART owns LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids), a small satellite or CubeSat. It will be launched ten days before the moonlet’s impact (Dimorphos). LICIACube’s mission is to picture the asteroid’s impact and the crater that resulted from the collision. It might also take pictures of any dust cloud that emerges during the impact.
