This was mankind’s first attempt to alter the motion of an asteroid or any celestial body and prevent a potential meteorite impact on Earth.
The American probe DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) collided with the asteroid Dimorphos as part of an experiment to change the flight path of a space object. The broadcast was carried out on Monday, September 26, by the press service of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on YouTube.
A DART no bigger than a vending machine crashed into a harmless Dimorphos, the size of a football stadium, at a distance of 11 million km from Earth.
The DART probe is a cube weighing about 600 kg with sensors, an antenna, an ion engine, two solar panels 8.5 m long and a DRACO camera, the image of which is sent to Earth in real time. The speed of the DART probe is 21,160 km/h. It was launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle in November 2021.
Asteroid Dimorphos orbits the near-Earth asteroid system Didymos. Dimorphos is not dangerous for the Earth, its diameter is 160 m.
IMPACT OF SUCCESS! Watch from #DARTMISsionDRACO Camera by DRACO, as a vending machine-sized spacecraft successfully collides with asteroid Dimorphos, which is the size of a football stadium and poses no threat to Earth. pic.twitter.com/7bXipPkjWD
— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2022
It was noted that although the effect was immediately apparent, because the DART radio signal suddenly stopped, it would take days or even weeks to determine how much the asteroid’s path had changed.
The collision, according to experts, will be considered successful if the 12-hour orbit of Dimorphos is slowed down by 73 seconds.
It was previously reported that James Webb took a picture of the galactic nebula NGC 2070, located in the constellation Dorado.
NASA has again canceled the launch of a rocket to the moon
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Source: korrespondent
