The first mission in asteroid protection history goes to the final design and assembly stage. Last month, NASA approved the project. The DART program is created and managed by representatives of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. She is going to use the kinetic impact technique (impact on the asteroid) to move the orbit of the space object. This is an important step in planetary defense, which will show whether we can defend ourselves against dangerous space rock.
DART target - Didyme. This is a double asteroid system represented by Didim A (half a mile) and a smaller B (530 feet). The launch is scheduled for spring / summer 2021. DART must go to the asteroid, using a special system to aim at Didim B. Then the ship (resembles a small car) will hit the smaller body at a speed of 3.7 miles per second. This action will allow you to check the reaction of the asteroid to the impact. In the future, this knowledge will be useful if scientists need to reject the threat to the Earth. DART will be the first scheduled visit to a double asteroid system.
The kinetic strike technique is triggered by slightly changing the orbital velocity of the target asteroid. DART will demonstrate this technology and measure the impact force of the device. Earth observatories will track the smallest changes, testing the strategy developed and making the necessary adjustments.
A special bureau on planetary defense was created by NASA back in 2016. It is responsible for finding, tracking, and characterizing potentially dangerous asteroids and comets approaching the Earth.
