Space agencies are finally gearing up to conduct an Earth defense test to determine if we can deflect an asteroid heading towards our planet.
Simulating the collision process between DART and Didymos B. ESA
The selected target is the asteroid Didymos B, with a diameter of approximately 160 meters, which is the smaller satellite of Didymos A, measuring 780 meters, making it a binary asteroid system.
Didymos falls into the category of Near-Earth Objects (NEO) and is not currently on a trajectory to impact Earth in the future, making it an ideal target to test defense strategies against potential asteroid threats.
Furthermore, Didymos B takes 11.92 hours to orbit around Didymos A, and this will be a crucial factor in determining the mission’s success or failure, according to Science Alert.
In the case of a single asteroid, it may be challenging to detect the effect. Still, within the Didymos system, the spacecraft collision is expected to alter the orbit of the smaller asteroid.
Instead of 11.92 hours, Didymos B may take a few extra minutes to complete its orbit around Didymos A.
While this may not sound particularly impressive, the ability to divert an asteroid heading towards Earth even slightly can mean the difference between life and death.
The AIDA project, a collaboration between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency), was initiated in 2015, with NASA’s DART spacecraft selected for the mission.
DART is expected to launch in July 2021 and approach the impact point in August 2022.
Before crashing into Didymos B at a speed of 23,760 km/h, DART will deploy a small satellite called LICIAcube, enabling the recording of the entire collision process and transmitting it back to Earth for analysis.
Based on the images captured, Earth’s experts can determine the mission’s success or failure.