(Image: Artist concept of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft.)
A devastating large asteroid headed right for Earthit's unlikely in our lifetimes, but inevitable in the very long term. NASA and other space institutions are starting to think more about how to deal with this fact, and one idea with widespread support is to build a spacecraft that could simply slam into an asteroid while it is still far away from Earth, altering its trajectory just enough to safely fly around our home planet.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
That's exactly what the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor spacecraft would do. This NASA project would target an asteroid not headed toward Earth as a test. The spacecraft concept was approved on June 23 to enter the design phase of the project. A target launch date has not been announced, but NASA mentioned their target asteroid, Didymos, will be making distant approaches to Earth in 2022 and 2024, suggesting a launch soon enough to hit the asteroid in the early 2020s is possible.
The target asteroid is actually a binary asteroid with two bodies, hence the name Didymos, Greek for "twin." Didymos A, the larger asteroid at about a half-mile wide (780 meters), has a smaller asteroid orbiting around it. Didymos B is only about 530 feet (160 meters) wide. DART, about the size of a refrigerator, would impact the smaller of the two, Didymos B, at 3.7 miles per second, or 5 to 9 times faster than a modern rifle bullet.
"A binary asteroid is the perfect natural laboratory for this test," said Tom Statler, program scientist for DART. "The fact that Didymos B is in orbit around Didymos A makes it easier to see the results of the impact, and ensures that the experiment doesn't change the orbit of the pair around the sun."
Of course, for something like DART to save the planet someday, we would need to hit a large asteroid while it is still far away. The bigger the asteroid, the earlier we need to find it, and if we can hit it while it is still months or years out, just a little nudge would be enough to alter its trajectory safely around us. If we are surprised by a large asteroid that would arrive in a matter of weeks, we would face the difficult decision of nuking it to smithereens as a last ditch effort.
Of all near-Earth objects (NEOs) that are over 1 kilometer in average diameter, we have located an estimated 95 percent. However, of NEOs around 20 meters in diameter or smaller, we have located less than 1 percent.
A meteor strike in Chelyabinsk, Russia, occurred in 2013 when an asteroid about 20 meters in diameter unexpectedly exploded over the city of 3.5 million in a 400 to 500 kiloton blast, releasing roughly 30 times as much energy as the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Even though the primary force of the explosion was 19 miles (30 kilometers) up in the atmosphere, over 1,400 people were injured and significant infrastructure damage occurred in an area roughly ten miles wide.
The Chelyabinsk meteor, brighter than the sun at its brightest point.
If an asteroid like the Chelyabinsk meteor were on a collision course for, say, New York City, it would be nice to be able to knock it out of the way with an impactor spacecraft. But we would need a system like DART on hand, and we would need to find the incoming asteroidthe Chelyabinsk meteor was obscured by the light of the sun, and it struck entirely without warning.
The WISE space telescope was repurposed in 2013 to search for NEOs, and telescopes coming online in the 2020s could greatly expand the catalogue of potentially hazardous asteroids and other planetary bodies.
And of course, we need to worry about the big one, the life-annihilating chunk of rock and ice somewhere out in the void. From studying impact craters, we know meteors around 6 miles (10 km) strike the Earth every 50 to 100 million years. The last one that size struck 65 million years ago, and it wiped out the former kings of this planet. If our species survives long enough, humans will confront a similar rock of doom. Let's hope we're ready for it.
Source: NASA
Visit link:
NASA Spacecraft Would Smash Into an Asteroid as a Dry Run for Saving the Planet - Popular Mechanics
- 2D Laser Profiling Scanner for Detecting Targets - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- NASA Energy Concept Could Harness the Power of Ocean Waves - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Data Acquisition Modules - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Dr. Scott Barthelmy, Research Scientist, Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Laser Tracker Ensures Accurate Alignment of Ares I Components - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Dual Cryogenic Capacitive Density Sensor - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Advanced Technologies Will Help Hubble Yield More Remarkable Discoveries - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Dr. Gerard Holzmann, Senior Research Scientist at the Laboratory for Reliable Software, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- NASA Research Will Help Aircraft Avoid Ocean Storms and Turbulence - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- NASA Awards 2008 Software of the Year - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Here Come The Tricorders - Update - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- China's View on Space - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Milsat Coordination and Tracking Issues - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Trash Talking and End Runs at NASA HQ - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Ares 1-Y is Toast - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Beyond Augustine - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Analyzing LCROSS' Plume - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Live Event: NASA-Sponsored Power Beaming Challenge - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- JSC Wants To Build a Replicator - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- USA: Looking For Ways To Hang On - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Lunar Lander Challenge Prizes Awarded - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Senate Votes To Restore NASA Budget Cuts - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- New FAA Regs for Commercial Reentry - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- TEDxNASA: An Invitation-Only NASA Meeting - Unless You Are Lucky - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Close Call For Courtney Stadd - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Space: A Waste? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Making NASA Cool - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Engaging JSC’s Next Gen: A Leadership Analysis - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Dumpster Diving for Rockets - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- TEDx NASA - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Reflections On a Business Trip in Huntsville - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Staying the Course - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Economics of Space - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Ideas at Work - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Blah Blah Blah - Why We Should Care About Social Media - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Will White House Speak Soon About NASA? - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Software Aids Design of Ares V Composite Shroud Structure - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- ASDX Series of silicon pressure sensors - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Industry Update: Analysis & Simulation Software - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Battery Will Provide Backup Power for Space Shuttles - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- NASA Employee Claims To Have Witnessed Hijacking Planning - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Big Party in The Mojave Tonight - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Looking at Boulders on the Moon - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- SpaceBook Featured by White House - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- New Ways to Use Constellation Stuff - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- LaRC internal Poll Update - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Coalition for Space Exploration Does a (Much Needed) Reboot - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Lunar Orbiter: Comparing Old and New Images - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Boulder Trails On The Moon - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Vote for John Grunsfeld - National Geographic Adventurer of the YeAR - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Charlie Bolden at WIA/AIAA - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Live Webcast From The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Big Aerospace Warns of Job Cut Impact - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- The Boulders of Copernicus - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- shame on us - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- 2009 Space Elevator Games - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Random Hacks of Kindness - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- TEDx NASA Tickets Available to the Public - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- It’s better in person - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Leading Amidst the Disruptive Innovation Storm - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Space: What’s NOT to Hope for? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Government in the Digital Age - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- SpaceUp – A Space Unconference - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Starfleet Academy? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Crowdsourcing NASA - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Bringing Home The Bacon - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- Anti-Space Mom with Pro-Space Kids - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- How Quickly We Forget - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- WISE Launch A Success - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- Dynetics Buys Orion Propulsion - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]
- New NASA Governance Structure Under Development - December 16th, 2009 [December 16th, 2009]
- Bolden Meets With Obama on Wednesday - December 16th, 2009 [December 16th, 2009]
- MSFC Procurement Doesn't Understand what "Open Source" Means - December 16th, 2009 [December 16th, 2009]
- Bolden Meets With Obama - December 17th, 2009 [December 17th, 2009]
- Parker Griffith AT MSFC Today - December 18th, 2009 [December 18th, 2009]
- Why Your NASA Computer May Not Work Properly - December 18th, 2009 [December 18th, 2009]
- Lakes and Fog on Titan - December 18th, 2009 [December 18th, 2009]
- Waterworld Found - December 18th, 2009 [December 18th, 2009]
- Pandora Could Exist - December 18th, 2009 [December 18th, 2009]
- Laurie Leshin Is The New ESMD Deputy AA - December 18th, 2009 [December 18th, 2009]