NASA’s DART

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission will be the first demonstration of a method that could be used to protect Earth from asteroids that could pose a threat to it in the future.

• NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft is scheduled to crash into the asteroid Dimorphos at approximately 7.14 PM EDT on September 26 (4.44 AM IST on September 27). 
• Using the impact of a massive object like a spacecraft to divert asteroids is called the “kinetic impact method” of asteroid impact avoidance.

DART Mission

• DART is the first technology demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique.
• This technique could be used to mitigate the threat in case an asteroid heads towards Earth in the future.
• The mission will test this newly developed technology by allowing a spacecraft to crash into an asteroid and change its course.
• After the spacecraft has collided with the asteroid, scientists will study its impact on the trajectory of the asteroid with a range of telescopes deployed on different regions of the planet.
• This study will help scientists understand whether the kinetic effect of a spacecraft impact could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

About Dimorphos: 

• It is 160-metre-wide and orbits the much larger asteroid Didymos (about 780 metres wide). It poses no actual threat to Earth.
• Webb Telescope, Hubble and a CubeSat called LICIACube to take measurements of the changes in the system and transmit back images.
• DRACO, or Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation is a high-resolution camera to capture images of Didymos and Dimorphos while simultaneously supporting DART’s autonomous guidance system. It takes 38 seconds for one-way communication.
• CubeSat, LICIACube is built by Italian space agency, has 2 cameras and operates autonomously.