The DART mission is nearing Dimorphos, its target asteroid
. Dimorphos and Didymos are a binary asteroid system, with Dimorphos being a ‘moonlet’ of Didymos. As the tiny moonlet orbits the bigger asteroid, it passes between the bigger asteroid and Earth. This means that telescopes both on and off-world can monitor the system and see relatively quickly what a crash does to Dimorphos’ speed and trajectory.
will also train their gaze on the asteroid system, waiting to see what happens when a rock meets a hard spacecraft.Playing Planetary Defense This demonstration is extremely important to our future here on the Earth” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer, at a press briefing ahead of the mission.This moment in history is unique, Johnson said; it’s the first time that humans have both knowledge about the threat that asteroids pose, and actually have the tech to do something about it.
When it spots Dimorphos, the 163-meter-wide asteroid will only appear as a pixel. That will be enough for the navigation system to begin tracking toward the rock itself, instead of its companion asteroid. Two and a half minutes before impact, the navigation systems that brought the spacecraft to that point will switch off, Adams says. “We’re just going to point the camera, and take the most amazing pictures of this asteroid that we’re going to see for the first time.
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