Planetary defense and the DART mission

The first test of planetary defense

Only spacecraft can see it

Planetary defense and the DART mission — The DART probe a moment before crashing into Dimorphos, with the bigger Didymos behind it.

The numbers

Launched on: November 24, 2021
Impact: September 26, 2022
Distance from the Earth: 6,800,000mi(11,000,000 km)
The target: 520ft(160 m)
Who did it: NASA

To get an idea

The shot was fired almost seven million miles away: thirty times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Fun facts

These are not in the book: there was no room on paper.

The crash threw up a trail of dust thousands of miles long, seen by telescopes.
A European probe called Hera will go to check the crater left by the impact.
The mission cost three hundred thirty million dollars up to the moment of impact.
The idea is not to destroy the asteroid but to move it: a small push given well ahead is enough.
On the East Coast of the United States, the impact happened at 7:14 in the evening of September 26, 2022.

Test yourself

The first question is the one printed under the QR code, with the answer the book did not give. The other four only exist here.

Question 1 of 5★ is the one from your book

What did the DART mission do?

Question 2 of 5

When did the impact happen?

Question 3 of 5

Why was Dimorphos chosen?

Question 4 of 5

Who steered the probe in the last minutes?

Question 5 of 5

What is the idea behind planetary defense?

Riddles

I left knowing I would not come back, and my job was to smash myself against a rock. In the last minutes I had to decide on my own where to go. What am I?

I am not dangerous to anyone, and yet someone came from very far away to hit me. Since then my trip around my companion takes a little less time. What am I?

I am not for blowing anything up. It is enough to arrive early and give a very small push, and the path changes forever. What am I?

Try it yourself

Activity 1

Draw two paths that start from the same point and spread apart by one degree. Extend them: after a yard they are already far apart.

Activity 2

Look online for the last pictures sent by DART and view them in order: the last three span less than two seconds.

The words

probe: A spacecraft with no crew sent to study a body in space.
orbit: The path one body in space follows around another.

Sources: Wikidata (Q47482008), Wikipedia (Double Asteroid Redirection Test).