Although Dimorphos is similar to many other asteroids around Earth, the DART team chose it as a target because it is a minor member of the asteroid binary. It is called the “moonlet,” and it revolves around Didymos, its great ally, as it clocks every 11 hours and 55 minutes. In other words, they can easily compare his movement with that of the other body nearby. If it had chosen to hit the sky alone, a slight deviation from its orbit would not have been visible for years, until it passed close to Earth. But because of the proximity of a friend, any change in Dimorphos path can be detected in a few days.
“It is a wise and prudent approach, and it is expensive. And it’s safe: you’re moving this month around an asteroid that has already been orbiting you, “says Chabot. for 73 seconds or more to be a successful career.
The two asteroids will be so close together that they can be measured exactly by the Earth’s telescope until March 2023. After that, they will travel farther, as another solar system passes through Mars. Although the asteroid stars appear to be just one point of light from this distance, scientists will be able to measure the amount of light from the bright sunlight from Didymos — a permanent representation of the Dimorphos path.
These asteroids, like many others, and meteors — the atmosphere that enters the Earth’s atmosphere — are not as frozen as solid as billions of balls. They may be fragments of rocks, boulders, and ice that are grouped together in a series of so-called “piles of debris,” consisting of boulders resembling asteroids. Ryugu and Eros, and to A meteorite that exploded in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013. In fact, the Dimorphos moonlet was probably made around the Didymos side. If Dimorphos is polluted, the DART force could form a valley, instead of dumping debris and rocking the asteroid. But that uncertainty is one of the reasons for the operation.
For more information on the crash, European Space Agency’s Here a mission is coming. The spacecraft is expected to be launched in 2024. When it arrives at the asteroidal duo in 2026, its iconic camera, lidar device, infrared scanner, and two CubeSat sidekicks will produce detailed Dimorphos maps and design.
If a dangerous object were to strike the earth, it would be the “kinetic impactor” —the only weapon that humans have. NASA, ESA, and other aerospace agencies are also looking at alternatives, such as placing a spacecraft near a “tractor” to pull it in another direction, or a nuclear explosion close to coercion. (Placing an asteroid on its own is at risk of failure, as this may be the case information rocks without radically altering their path.) “Kinetic impactor is the most sophisticated of these methods,” said Lori Glaze, chief of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, at a press conference on Sunday.