DART Mission – Double Asteroid Redirection Test
- Target the binary asteroid Didymos system
- Impact Didymos-B and change its orbital period
- Measure the period change from Earth
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is directed by NASA. DART is a planetary defense-driven test of technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid.
It has been noticed that unprecedented asteroids occasionally drift towards earth but are often destroyed by earth’s atmosphere. But, sometimes they do make an impact which can be equally devastating to that of an atomic bomb. To prevent such asteroids from hitting the earth’s surface Nasa is carrying out a round of tests with their DART Mission Team.
The near-Earth asteroid Didymos is the target for the DART demonstration. The DART spacecraft will achieve the kinetic impact deflection by deliberately crashing itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6.6 km/s, with the aid of an onboard camera and sophisticated autonomous navigation software.
The DART spacecraft launch window begins in late July 2021. DART will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Reference
https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/dart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoLH3ruxDsY&t=271s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Asteroid_Redirection_Test