Page 35 - EngineerIT December 2021

SPACE SCIENCES

“We have not yet found any The spacecraft will intercept the Didymos system between 26 September and
significant asteroid impact threat to 1 October 2022, intentionally slamming into Dimorphos at roughly six kilometres per
Earth, but we continue to search for second. Scientists estimate the kinetic impact will shorten Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos
that sizable population we know is still by several minutes. Researchers will precisely measure that change using telescopes on
to be found. Our goal is to find any Earth. Their results will validate and improve scientific computer models critical to predicting
possible impact years to decades in the effectiveness of the kinetic impact as a reliable method for asteroid deflection.
advance, so it can be deflected with a “It is an indescribable feeling to see something you’ve been involved with since the
capability like DART, which is possible ‘words on paper’ stage become real and launched into space,” said Andy Cheng, one of the
with the technology we currently DART investigation leads at Johns Hopkins APL and the individual who came up with the idea
have,” said Lindley Johnson, planetary of DART. “This is just the end of the first act, and the DART investigation and engineering
defence officer at NASA headquarters. teams have much work to do over the next year preparing for the main event – DART’s
“DART is one aspect of NASA’s work to kinetic impact on Dimorphos. But for now, we celebrate!”
prepare Earth, should we ever be faced DART’s single instrument, the Didymos reconnaissance and asteroid camera for optical
with an asteroid hazard. In tandem navigation (DRACO), will provide first images from the spacecraft. DART will continue to
with this test, we are preparing the travel just outside of Earth’s orbit around the Sun for the next ten months until Didymos and
Near-Earth Object Surveyor Mission, Dimorphos will be a relatively close 11 million kilometres from Earth.
a space-based infrared telescope A sophisticated guidance, navigation and control system, working together with
scheduled for launch later this decade algorithms called small-body manoeuvring autonomous real time navigation (SMART Nav),
and designed to expedite our ability will enable the DART spacecraft to identify and distinguish between the two asteroids. The
to discover and characterise the system will then direct the spacecraft toward Dimorphos. This entire process will occur
potentially hazardous asteroids and within roughly an hour of impact. n
comets that come within 30 million
miles of Earth’s orbit.” For more information about the DART mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/dartmission

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