![]() ![]() "Both Didymos and Dimorphos are more squishy in shape - looking more like peanut butter M&Ms and less like peanut M&Ms - than we expected," Sunshine said. ![]() To the team's surprise, they found the small asteroid to be an oblate spheroid, or a slightly squashed sphere-like body, instead of a more elongated shape expected from theoretical predictions. Thanks to Farnham's work, the DART team gained important information about the general timeline of the impact, the location and nature of the impact site, and the size and shape of Dimorphos. "With this information, we have the context to make our conjectures and evaluate our work." "When dealing with observations from a spacecraft, we need to understand where in space the spacecraft is located with respect to the asteroid, the sun and Earth and where it's facing at any given time," Farnham explained. Using data from spacecraft engineers and from the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation (DRACO), Farnham helped determine what the DART spacecraft was looking at as it approached Dimorphos. Richardson and his UMD Department of Astronomy colleagues Professor Jessica Sunshine and Principal Research Scientist Tony Farnham played critical roles in studying the effectiveness of the DART mission to deflect an asteroid from an Earth-bound path.įarnham was instrumental in computing the geometrical conditions and dimensions needed to interpret observations of the event accurately. "With sufficient time, a relatively small change in an asteroid's orbit would cause it to miss the Earth, preventing large-scale destruction from occurring on our planet."ĭART mission more successful than expected "We can't stop hurricanes or earthquakes yet, but we ultimately learned that we can prevent an asteroid impact with sufficient time, warning and resources," said Derek Richardson, a professor of astronomy at UMD and a DART investigation working group lead. The findings confirm the feasibility of redirecting near-Earth objects like asteroids as a planetary defense measure. (U.S.In four papers published in the journal Nature on March 1, 2023, the DART team - which includes University of Maryland astronomers - detailed DART's successful impact, the possible physics behind the collision, observations of the resulting debris ejected from the asteroid and calculations of Dimorphos' orbital changes. A SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying NASA’s first planetary defense test mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), launches November 24 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency also contributed to the NASA DART mission. “Our goal is to find any possible impact, years to decades in advance, so it can be deflected with a capability like DART that is possible with the technology we currently have,” Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA, said at the time of the launch. NASA scientists emphasize that they have not found any imminent asteroid threat to the Earth but want to be prepared for the possibility of a future collision. “DART is turning science fiction into science fact and is a testament to NASA’s proactivity and innovation for the benefit of all,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said November 24. Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft with asteroids (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL) The DART spacecraft is expected to reach the asteroid system between September and October 2022. ![]()
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