The impact of DART into an asteroid is just one month away.
The DART mission is the first ever planetary defense test. There was a concert on September 26 at 7:14 pm. DART will crash into the asteroid Dimorphos at a speed of 15,000 mph in order to alter the asteroid's path around Didymos.
Although Dimorphos is not on a collision course with Earth, the mission is a test to see if impact technology can be used to protect the planet.
The DART asteroid- impact mission is explained in pictures.
The launch of the mission took place in November of 2021. DART has traveled over 6 million miles to the Didymos system. Didymos is the larger asteroid at 2,500 feet and Dimorphos is the smaller asteroid at 525 feet. The asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk was 60 feet in diameter.
The choice to target a system was made. We will be able to see if the impact shifted Dimorphos' trajectory because the two asteroids can be observed by telescopes.
The impact will be live on NASA TV, NASA's website, and NASA social media pages. On September 26th.
You won't see live video of the impact. The DART is equipped with a camera that is used to autonomously navigate the craft to Dimorphos and photograph the asteroid's surface. The data feed from the camera will be cut off when it is destroyed.
The Italian Space Agency's Light Italian CubeSat is going to be part of the ride. The impact on the Didymos system will be photographed by DART before it happens.
The European Space Agency's Hera mission will rendezvous with Didymos and Dimorphos to study DART's impact.
That is a long way away. Next month's impact is what we will be bracing for.
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