Scientists have outlined the task of deflecting the orbit of the asteroid DART. This has been reported by the University of Maryland.
The DART mission was launched in November 2021 to test Earth’s asteroid defense technology. Meanwhile, a small spacecraft entered rendezvous orbit with the orbiting near-Earth asteroids Didim (780 meters in Diameter) and Dimorph (160 meters). The collision occurred with the smaller Dimorph at a speed of about 6.6 km/h.
Derek Richardson and his colleagues decided to evaluate the effectiveness of this task. It turns out that the asteroid’s trajectory has changed more than scientists expected, and the magnitude of this change cannot be explained by a single blow from the device. As the analysis showed, DART ejected a large rock mass from the asteroid, forming a so-called comet “tail” inside it. This range of debris is large because the rocks of Dimorph are very loose. The flow of rock fragments caused a kind of jet stream.
“So much debris was ejected from the collision that Dimorph was launched about 3.5 times more efficiently than if it was hit by the DART spacecraft alone,” the scientists explain.
According to calculations, Dimorph’s 12-hour rotation time around Didyma should have shortened by 10 minutes, while measurements showed it was shortened by 30 minutes.
This work shows how difficult it would be to calculate the required impact on an asteroid if humanity were to deflect it from a dangerous trajectory.
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