The world's first planetary defense test will take place when a NASA spaceship crashes into an asteroid.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART asteroid mission, will slam a spacecraft into the tiny moon of the asteroid Didymos on Monday. The mission will hit the moonlet, called Dimorphos, and take pictures until it hits the ground. You will be able to see them live. A guide on when it will all happen is available.
There is some science. The DART mission is the first planetary defense test of its kind.
There are 8 ways to stop asteroids.
DART's target Dimorphos is about the same size as Didymos and can be seen once every 11 hours. There is no risk of an asteroid hitting our planet because the asteroids are 7 million miles away. DART should hit Dimorphos at an average speed of over 15,000 mph. On DART's last day, here's what it's going to be like.
The space rock impact action starts to heat up in the final 24 hours as the stage is set for NASA's DART asteroid impact. DART will perform its last maneuver to set it on course for a Didymos impact.
The navigation team will know the location of the target Dimorphos within 2 kilometers before the impact. DART will be able to guide itself to its collision with the asteroid moonlet.
Didymos was picked for the asteroid crash mission.
DART will enter its final phase about four hours before impact. The Didymos asteroid is the location of the DRACO camera.
Evan Smith, DART's deputy mission systems engineer, said that they were targeting Didymos because they could not see Dimorphos.
Ground commands will no longer be issued during the terminal phase. Smith said that the craft will be fully on autopilot.
The time is at 5 pm. NASA will broadcast a real-time stream of photos from the DART camera. DART has a camera that will show the asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos as they grow.
The screen will be mostly black in the hours before the crash. The Didymos system is comprised of a larger asteroid named Didymos and a smaller asteroid named Dimorphos.
The images in this stream will be delayed a bit because of the time it takes for the signal to reach Earth from DART. One view of Didymos and a view of Jupiter and its moons have been released by NASA.
The feed will lose signal after impact. The final moments leading up to impact will be shown after about 2 minutes.
The DART asteroid impact will be broadcast live by NASA. The sun goes down at 2200GMT.
The raw, most up-to-date images of the asteroid impact will come from this stream. The mission for NASA is overseen by the jhauapl.
About 50 minutes before DART hits Dimorphos, the spaceship should shift its focus to the small moonlet.
Smith said that the moonlet and its parent Didymos should be in the camera view. Both objects will be in the field of view, but we are going to hit Dimorphos.
The time was 6:54 pm. The smart navigation system of DART will enter a "precision lock" when it crashes into Dimorphos.
Smith said that at 20 minutes before impact, they would go straight for Dimorphos and ignore Didymos. At that time, we expect to be thrusting a bit.
At 7:11 pm. DART will be cutting its ion engines and preparing for the inevitable. At 14,760 mph, the spaceship will crash into Dimorphos.
Smith said that at two and a half minutes before impact, they cut off all thrust. We're going to stream images all the time.
This is the biggest moment of my life. This is when the live views of Dimorphos from the DRACO camera will stop.
If DART's cameras can see Dimorphos, there is a good chance of a successful impact.
A small cubesat called LICIACube should be able to see the impact. The cubesat was thrown into the air a few weeks ago.
LICIACube should fly by the site three minutes after the DART hit Dimorphos.
LICIA will take photos of the ejected debris and send them back to Earth. The images are expected to be released on September 28, as it takes time for the small cubesat to beam them back.
The Italian Space Agency built LICIACube, which was released by DART on September 11.
The Italian Space Agency expects to receive the first full-frame images and process them a few days after the impact.
The time is 8p.m. The DART asteroid impact will be discussed at a press conference.
We don't have a list of who is attending the press conference, but you can be certain that it will be filled with mission managers and NASA officials hoping to celebrate DART's success. You can watch the press conference on NASA TV.
You can see the press briefings on our website.
What time DART will crash into the asteroid Dimorphos will be shown.
You can find complete coverage of the DART asteroid mission on Space.com.
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