Experts Praise Success DART Mission for Planetary Defense Technology

The universe is full of mysteries, and one of the biggest is whether or not an asteroid could hit Earth in a way that would be very terrible. It’s hard to imagine the severity of the damage and lives that could be lost in such a tragedy. But what if there were some way to stop a catastrophe of this scale? So this is where DART comes in. The DART mission is a fascinating and challenging task that could alter the path of human events by revealing new ways to safeguard Earth from asteroids.

But firstly we should know that,

What is this Dart?

DART, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is a planetary defense mission led by NASA and the Laboratory of Applied Physics of Johns Hopkins University. The mission’s primary objective is to test the effectiveness of a technique called a kinetic impactor. Hence, it involves redirecting the path of an asteroid by colliding with a spacecraft into it at high speed.

The spacecraft, also called the DART impactor, was launched on November 23, 2021, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg, SLC-4E. The DART impactor weighs 610 kg. It carries a CubeSat called LICIACube, which was deployed six months and four days into the mission. The target of the DART mission is the Didymos system. It is a binary asteroid system consisting of two objects – the primary asteroid Didymos and its smaller moonlet called Dimorphos. The DART impactor is expected to collide with Dimorphos on September 26, 2022, at a distance of 56.7 km from the Didymos system.

Here arises the question,

What is the purpose of DART?

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission aims to test if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its pathway to respond to a potential asteroid impact threat. DART’s target is the binary asteroid system Didymos, composed of two asteroids – Didymos and Dimorphos. The DART spacecraft impacted Dimorphos. It is a smaller moonlet asteroid orbiting Didymos, nearly head-on, shortening the time it takes Dimorphos to orbit Didymos by 33 minutes. The scientists designed the impact carefully to bring Dimorphos’s orbit slightly closer to Didymos. But the system is not on a path to collide with Earth and poses no actual threat. The DART demonstration tests technology and capability to respond to a future asteroid impact threat, should one ever be discovered.

Furthermore, you need to find out,

What are the main objectives of DART’s mission?

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission has several key objectives, which include testing our ability to achieve a kinetic impact on an asteroid and observing its response. The primary objective of the mission is to demonstrate a kinetic impact with the smaller moonlet asteroid Dimorphos. It orbits the larger asteroid Didymos in a binary system. Another key objective is to change the binary orbital period of Dimorphos by using DART’s kinetic impact. So, an investigation team will measure it using telescopes on Earth. It observes how much the impact has changed the asteroid’s motion in space.

Additionally, the DART mission aims to engage the international planetary science community and foster worldwide cooperation to address the global issue of planetary defense. The use of ground-based telescope observations before and after the impact will allow for precise measurements of Dimorphos’ period change. Moreover, the mission seeks to measure the effects of the impact and resulting ejecta on Dimorphos. As it provides valuable insights into the behavior of asteroids and their response to impacts. By achieving these objectives, the DART mission will help advance our understanding of planetary defense and our ability to mitigate potential asteroid impact threats.

Now, come to the discussion that,

Was the NASA DART mission successful or not?

NASA has recently confirmed that the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission has successfully changed the orbit of an asteroid. It marked the first time humans have intentionally altered the motion of a celestial object. Hence, by colliding with the smaller moonlet asteroid, Dimorphos, DART impacted its target asteroid, Didymos, in successfully demonstrating asteroid deflection technology. The impact reduced the time it takes for Dimorphos to orbit Didymos by 32 minutes, down from the previous 11 hours and 55 minutes. This margin of error is around plus or minus 2 minutes. NASA had set a minimum goal of a 73-second orbit period change. The DART mission surpassed it by over 25 times. Astronomers on Earth have been using telescopes to measure the change in orbit since the impact occurred on September 26, 2022.

Moreover, let’s find out,

What are experts’ views on this mission?

The DART coordination lead from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel. Maryland “Nancy Chabot,” says: “DART has given us some fascinating data about both asteroid properties and the effectiveness of a kinetic impactor as a planetary defense technology,” Moreover, she explains: “The DART team is continuing to work on this rich dataset to fully understand this first planetary defense test of asteroid deflection.”

Bill Nelson, NASA’s Administrator, says: “All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it’s the only one we have”. Moreover, he explains: “This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us. NASA has proven we are serious as a defender of the planet. This is a watershed moment for planetary defense and all of humanity.  Demonstrating commitment from NASA’s exceptional team and partners from around the world.”

The Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington is Lori Glaze. She says: “This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART’s impact with its target asteroid”.  While, she added: “As new data come in each day, astronomers will be able to better assess. They will assess whether, and how, a mission like DART could be used in the future. It will help protect Earth from a collision with an asteroid if we ever discover one headed our way.”

So, here comes the point,

What are researchers looking forward to for this mission?

The investigation team is currently focused on gathering more data with ground-based observatories and radar facilities to improve the precision of the period measurement of Dimorphos. While this is ongoing, attention has shifted towards measuring the efficiency of momentum transfer from DART’s impact with the asteroid. This involves analyzing the ejecta. As it is the debris launched into space by the impact, to better understand how it affected DART’s push against Dimorphos. To do this, the team needs more information on the physical properties of the asteroid. It includes the characteristics of its surface and its strength.

Investigaters are investigating these issues currently. As the astronomers continuing to study imagery of Dimorphos from DART’s terminal approach and the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube). In approximately four years, scientists has planned the European Space Agency’s Hera project  to conduct detailed surveys of both Dimorphos and Didymos. They focus on the crater left by DART’s collision and precise measurement of Dimorphos’ mass. This future mission will provide valuable insights into the effects of DART’s impact on the asteroid. And then it is aid in the development of future planetary defense strategies.

 

Published by: Sky Headlines

ESA Hera Mission: Measuring the Impact of NASA’s DART on Dimorphos

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced its upcoming Hera mission. The mission aims to follow up on the success of NASA’s DART mission. On September 26, 2022, the NASA DART team changed the orbit of an asteroid named Dimorphos. They did this using the DART spacecraft through a kinetic impact. This marked a significant milestone in asteroid deflection technology. NASA confirmed that the mission impact changed the asteroid’s motion in space. Debris blasted from the surface of Dimorphos was observed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on October 8, 2022. ESA Hera mission aims to measure the impact of the DART mission on Dimorphos, enabling scientists to better understand how to protect Earth from potentially harmful asteroids. Additionally, it will help advocate for more planetary defense missions in the future.

Before we go any further, we should know,

Hera Mission Overview:

The Hera mission has a budget of €6 billion. The launch will be on October 2024 and will use an Ariane 6.4 launcher, with a Falcon 9 launcher as a backup. The spacecraft will perform a deep-space maneuver 2-3 weeks after launch. It will then fly by Mars in March 2025 at an altitude of 5000-8000 km before heading towards Didymos. There is also the possibility of an asteroid flyby during the cruise phase. Upon arrival at Didymos, Hera will also perform a capture sequence consisting of five maneuvers. This is expected to occur in January or early February 2027, with backup opportunities available in 2025 and also 2026. The arrival at Didymos will result in late 2030 or early 2031.

Hera Spacecraft

Five phases:

The Hera mission will consist of five phases after it reaches Didymos.  The first phase is the Early Characterization Phase, which will take six weeks and focus on determining the global shape, mass/gravity, thermal, and dynamical properties of both asteroids. The next phase is the Payload Deployment Phase, which will center on releasing the two CubeSats and supporting their early operations.

Moreover, the Detailed Characterization Phase comes first and lasts four weeks. In this phase, Hera and its CubeSats will map asteroids at a meter-scale and determine their thermal, spectral, and interior properties through measurements.

The fourth phase is the Close Observation Phase, which lasts six weeks. This phase allows for high-resolution investigations of a large fraction of the surface area of Dimorphos, including the DART impact crater. This will be accomplished through 12 close flybys, with a pericenter distance of 4 km. The final phase is the Experimental Phase, which lasts six weeks. This phase will demonstrate innovative navigation techniques to achieve flybys at lower altitudes, down to 1 km or less. The goal is to enhance the resolution of Dimorphos’ morphological, spectral, and thermal properties, specifically in selected targets such as the DART impact crater, to the level of decimeters.

The Hera spacecraft will land on Didymos, providing high-resolution data on the primary in the process, marking the end of the mission.

Hera Phases

Now, let’s find out the,

What are the objectives of the Hera mission?

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Safety Program is developing the Hera mission, scheduled for launch in October 2024, with the primary goal of exploring a binary asteroid starting in December 2026, as part of a planetary defense mission. The Hera mission will provide valuable insights into asteroid science. Moreover, it will help in improving our understanding of the asteroid impact threat mitigation, mining, and scientific purposes. It aims to investigate the subsurface and also interior properties of the binary asteroid and measure the outcome of a kinetic impactor test, which will provide valuable information for asteroid impact threat mitigation, mining, and scientific purposes. The Hera mission is based on the previous Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) concept and will contribute substantially to asteroid science.

Hera will characterize the first binary near-Earth asteroid. It will constrain the surface structure and regolith mobility on both Didymos and Dimorphos. This mission offers a unique opportunity to study the surface geophysics of two objects of different sizes and surface gravity. Regarding the deflection demonstration, Hera has several goals. These include determining Dimorphos’ mass to assess the momentum transfer efficiency from DART’s impact. It also involves studying the resulting crater to enhance our knowledge of the cratering mechanism. Additionally, Hera will examine both the exterior and interior of Dimorphos to enable scaling of the momentum transfer efficiency to other asteroids.

So, now let’s dig into the construction and features of,

Hera Spacecraft:

The Hera spacecraft is set to be equipped with advanced technology that will enable it to navigate safely through the double-asteroid system. Moreover, the spacecraft will utilize automated guidance, navigation, and control systems, which function like self-driving cars. The body of the spacecraft will be desk-sized and house a variety of instruments, including an optical Asteroid Framing Camera. Additionally, it will have thermal and spectral imagers, as well as a laser altimeter that will aid in surface mapping.

The Hera spacecraft consists of three spacecraft, which includes two CubeSats that are as small as shoeboxes, and will be transported near Dimorphos. One of the CubeSats, called Juventas, will carry out an extraordinary radar investigation of the asteroid’s internal structure. Juventas will also have instruments like a gravimeter and an accelerometer to measure the asteroid’s weak gravitational pull and its response to outside forces. Milani, the second CubeSat, will perform near-infrared spectral imaging and collect dust samples from asteroids. Through an innovative inter-satellite link system, the CubeSat duo will maintain communication with both their Hera mother craft and each other. This arrangement will provide valuable insights into managing multiple spacecraft in the unusual near-weightless environment. Ultimately, the CubeSats will land on Dimorphos.

Hera spacecraft
An illustration of ESA’s proposed Hera spacecraft scanning the moon of the asteroid Didymos with a lidar instrument. Credit: ESA

The Hera mission will provide significant knowledge about the makeup and arrangement of the binary asteroid system. With these advanced features, scientists hope to better understand how to defend against potentially hazardous asteroids.

So let’s sum up the whole mission in a short,

Conclusion:

On the whole, ESA’s Hera mission is a crucial step in better understanding how to protect Earth from potentially harmful asteroids. In October 2024, the mission will explore a binary asteroid and measure the impact of NASA’s DART mission. The spacecraft’s advanced technology will allow scientists to study the binary asteroid’s subsurface and interior properties. Additionally, the mission will perform the first comprehensive characterization of a binary near-Earth asteroid, which will contribute substantially to asteroid science.

 

Published by: Sky Headlines

AIAA honors NASA’s DART and James Webb with 2023 Premier Awards

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) designated NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) missions and contractors as three of the AIAA Premier Awards recipients for 2023. The awards honor those in the aerospace industry that AIAA considers to be the most influential and inspiring.

“We congratulate both the Webb and DART teams on their incredible dedication to achieving NASA’s science goals for the benefit of all,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA Headquarters’ Science Mission Directorate. “Their significant contributions have launched NASA into a new era of science and inspired the world through their discoveries.”

“We are inspired by the hard work and achievements of these teams, and we thank them for their dedication to the aerospace industry,” AIAA President Laura McGill stated. “AIAA is committed to ensuring that aerospace professionals are recognized and celebrated for their innovations and discoveries that make the world safer, more connected, accessible, and prosperous.”

AIAA Aerospace Excellence Award

In 2023, the AIAA Award for Aerospace Excellence was created to honor a unique program or mission in the aerospace sector that deserves timely acknowledgment.

This award recognizes a one-of-a-kind achievement by an aerospace organization or team that is changing the future of aerospace and motivating the next generation to seek careers in aerospace.

The DART team, which included NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, received this honor. DART successfully altered the orbit of a target asteroid, which presented no threat to Earth, on September 26, 2022, marking humanity’s first time purposefully influencing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.

AIAA Goddard Space Flight Award

The Goddard Astronautics Award is AIAA’s highest accolade for outstanding achievement in the field of astronautics. It was established in the 1940s by his widow, Esther Goddard, to honor her husband, Robert H. Goddard, a rocket visionary, pioneer, daring experimentalist, and superb engineer whose early liquid rocket engine launches laid the groundwork for the development of astronautics.

The Goddard Astronautics Award for this year went to the following Webb team members for “delivering groundbreaking engineering performance for the James Webb Space Telescope, to advance the study of every phase of cosmic history”: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Lee D. Feinberg and Michael T. Menzel; and Northrop Grumman’s Charlie Atkinson and Jennifer Love-Pruitt.

Webb is the world’s premier space science observatory, led by NASA with partners ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Its design expanded the capabilities of space telescopes to solve riddles in our solar system, gaze beyond to distant worlds orbiting other stars, and investigate the strange architecture and origins of our universe and our role in it.

Engineer of the Year Award from AIAA

This award is given to an Institute member who has made a recent individual, technical contribution in the application of scientific and mathematical ideas that has resulted in a major technological accomplishment.

Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center’s Alison A. Nordt was recognized “for exceptional engineering and technical leadership in the development of the Near-Infrared Camera critical to the success of the James Webb Space Telescope.”

AIAA Fellows Class of 2023

AIAA announced their 2023 class of Honorary Fellows and Fellows. Eight people with NASA connections were named Fellows:

  • Christopher D’Souza, NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s deputy administrator Pamela Melroy
  • NASA’s Langley Research Center, Engineering & Safety Center’s Kauser S. Imtiaz
  • NASA Headquarters’ Jill Marlowe
  • NASA’s Langley Research Center’s Eugene Morelli
  • Surendra Sharma, Ames Research Center, NASA
  • NASA’s Glenn Research Center’s Rickey J. Shyne
  • Former NASA Headquarters Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Thomas H. Zurbuchen

The 2023 AIAA Premier Awards will be presented, as well as the Institute’s Class of 2023 Honorary Fellows and Fellows, at the AIAA Awards Gala on Thursday, May 18, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest technical society for aerospace. AIAA brings together business, academia, and government to enhance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. It has almost 30,000 individual members from 91 countries and 100 corporate members.

On Valentine’s Day 2046 Experts Warn Asteroid 2023 DW Could Hit Earth

Space experts are warning that an asteroid named 2023 DW, could collide with Earth on Valentine’s Day in 2046. The 50-meter-wide asteroid was discovered by the European Space Agency on February 26, 2023. It is expected to take over two decades to reach Earth, possibly even three.

The asteroid has been added to the “risk list,” which documents objects in space that could potentially impact Earth. According to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Objects, the asteroid poses no unusual level of danger. And the chance of collision is currently extremely unlikely. However, 2023 DW is the only object on the list with a ranking higher than zero on the Torino Scale, which rates space objects’ risk of colliding with Earth.

Valentine's Day 2046
Captured by Nasa’s Lucy spacecraft. Photograph: NASA/Goddard/ZUMA Press Wire Service/REX/Shutterstock

However, we need to know,

What do scientists say about this event?

Italian astronomer Piero Sicoli has predicted a 1 in 400 chance of 2023 DW hitting Earth and has even developed a map indicating where the asteroid could potentially strike. Despite this, the planetary defense coordination office at NASA states that the risk of collision with Earth is currently very small.

Davide Farnocchia is a navigation engineer at the JPL in Pasadena, California. He says: “This object is not particularly concerning,”

If the asteroid collided with Earth, it could cause catastrophic damage. With a diameter of 50 meters, the impact could be equivalent to a nuclear explosion. It resulted in widespread destruction and loss of life.

While the risk of collision is currently very low, scientists are constantly monitoring the asteroid’s trajectory and making updates to their predictions as new data becomes available.  Technology cannot rule out the possibility of a collision with Earth completely.

NASA said on its official Asteroid Watch account on Twitter: “We’ve been tracking a new asteroid named 2023 DW. It has a very small chance of impacting Earth in 2046″.  Moreover, NASA added: “Often when new objects are first discovered, it takes several weeks of data to reduce the uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits years into the future.”

If you are wondering,

Is this the first time an asteroid is going to collide with Earth?

It’s important to note that the Solar System is indeed filled with millions of asteroids. Many of them come close to Earth regularly. Astronomers have been tracking near-Earth objects for decades, and are discovering new ones all the time.

Earlier this year, in January, astronomers observed one of the closest approaches by a known near-Earth object ever recorded. This object, called 2023 BU, was only the size of a box truck, but it came very close to Earth – closer than the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Astronomers only discovered it a week before its closest approach, highlighting the need for continued vigilance in tracking these objects.

In short, the specific asteroid 2023 DW that astronomers have predicted to impact Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046 is getting a lot of attention. It’s certainly not the first time an asteroid has come close to our planet.  Hence, it likely won’t be the last. Scientists and astronomers are constantly monitoring the skies for potential threats and working on developing technologies to mitigate the risk of an impact.

Hence, the question arises:

What are the efforts of scientists to Deflect Hazardous Asteroids?

In the meantime, researchers and space agencies are working on developing methods to deflect potentially hazardous asteroids away from Earth’s orbit. The consequences of a collision with an asteroid could be catastrophic, and we must continue to invest in this technology to protect our planet from future threats.

As Valentine’s Day 2046 approaches, the world will be watching closely as scientists track the trajectory of asteroid 2023 DW. The risk of collision is currently low. So, we must remain vigilant and prepared for any potential threats to our planet.

Here is a point to clear;

What is the role of DART’s mission?

While an asteroid’s impact may seem unlikely, scientists and professionals are creating tools and techniques to reduce the risk. The DART mission’s success implies we can prepare for near-Earth objects like asteroids with proper planning and preparation.

The Planetary Defense Coordination Office will decide if and when to take action if 2023 DW, the asteroid projected to crash Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046. The recently tested Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor could be used to change an asteroid’s trajectory.

NASA’s DART mission successfully collided a spacecraft into an asteroid to adjust its trajectory, showing that scientists and professionals can prepare for potentially dangerous space rocks. Scientists have prepared for years to encounter an asteroid.

NASA announced DART’s success in October 2021. The DART mission changed its direction by crashing a spacecraft into a tiny asteroid, showing that such technologies may divert a dangerous asteroid.

Mr. Farnocchia said: “That’s the very reason why we flew that mission,”.He says, “and that mission was a spectacular success.”

So now let’s wrap this up:

Summary:

NASA experts are warning of a potential hazard to Earth in 2046. As a 50-meter-wide asteroid named 2023, DW might collide with the planet on Valentine’s Day. While scientists are now considering the chance of collision extremely low. As astronomers have added asteroid to the “risk list” of objects in space that has the potential to impact Earth. This is the only object on the list with a Torino Scale ranking over zero. The effects of a collision with an asteroid could be devastating. Researchers and space agencies are working on creating means to deflect potentially harmful asteroids away from Earth’s orbit. Experts are now counting on NASA’s asteroid-punishing DART probe to deflect the asteroid.

 

Published by: Sky Headlines

OSIRIS-REx Historic Return with Bennu Samples

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx is an ongoing mission that visited and collected a sample from asteroid 101955 Bennu, with the aim of returning the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

 

What is so Exciting About the OSIRIS-REx Mission?

On Sunday morning, above the Utah desert, a parachute will deploy, gently lowering a capsule carrying approximately 250g of rubble to the ground. As it makes its descent, four helicopters, transporting scientists, engineers, and military safety personnel, will speed across the dry landscape to retrieve this valuable cargo.

Osiris-Rex mission
Nasa recovery teams in Utah participate in field rehearsals to prepare for the retrieval of the sample return capsule from the Osiris-Rex mission. Image: Keegan Barber/AP

This isn’t ordinary soil; it comprises chunks of space rock dating back 4.6 billion years. These fragments have the potential not only to provide insights into the formation of planets but also to offer clues about the origins of life itself.

Ashley King of the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London, says:

“These are some of the oldest materials formed in our solar system. Samples from asteroids [such as this] tell us what all those ingredients were for making a planet like the Earth and they also tell us what the recipe was – so how did those materials come together and start mixing together to end up with [habitable environments]?”

The final act of NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission may resemble the opening scene of an action movie, but it marks the culmination of a seven-year journey. During this, a robotic spacecraft, roughly the size of a transit van, was dispatched to investigate. And subsequently, gather resources from – the debris heap that forms the asteroid Bennu.

Bennu Samples
Source: Nasa

Diving Down Towards Earth & Details About Its Speed:

The capsule carrying this collection is anticipated to be released from the spacecraft at 06:42 AM EDT (11:42 AM BST) on Sunday. It will hurtle into Earth’s atmosphere four hours later at a speed of 27,650 miles per hour. As it descends towards Earth, its trajectory will be closely monitored, and parachutes will be deployed to gradually reduce its speed to around 11 miles per hour upon landing.

After the team retrieves the capsule, it will be placed in a sturdy metal crate, securely wrapped, and transported by helicopter to a temporary facility. By Monday, it will be swiftly transported to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

While scientists assert that there is minimal risk of the samples posing a threat to Earth, they emphasize the importance of preventing any potential contamination in the opposite direction. To achieve this, filtered air will be permitted to flow into the capsule during its descent to Earth to prevent any potential leaks that might lead to contamination. Subsequently, the capsule will be connected to a stream of nitrogen.

One of the mission’s objectives is to gain a better understanding of how to predict and safeguard Earth from potential asteroid impacts. Analyzing the physical properties of the collected samples, such as their density and porosity, is expected to contribute significantly to this endeavor, according to King.

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this image of the asteroid Bennu using its MapCam imager on Dec. 12, 2018. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)

Spacecrafts Involved in the Examination of Asteroids:

The spacecraft was equipped with five instruments that conducted an exhaustive examination, mapping, and analysis of the asteroid, offering an unprecedented level of detail:

OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) – OVIRS carried out its investigations by gauging visible and near-infrared light, with a specific focus on identifying organics and other mineral compositions.

OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) – OTES, using thermal infrared technology, determined Bennu’s temperature and produced maps detailing the distribution of minerals and chemicals. The collaborative efforts of OVIRS and OTES covered a spectrum of wavelengths to pinpoint the optimal location for collecting samples from the asteroid.

OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) – OCAMS consisted of three cameras designed to map Bennu comprehensively. PolyCam, the largest of the cameras, captured the initial images of Bennu from a distance of 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers) and also obtained high-resolution images of the chosen sample site. MapCam, on the other hand, scouted for satellites and dust plumes surrounding the asteroid, compiled colour maps of the asteroid’s surface, and took photographs essential for crafting topographic maps. SamCam documented the entire sample collection process, from its gathering to its secure capture.

OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) – OLA meticulously scanned the entirety of Bennu’s surface, transmitting data that facilitated the creation of exceptionally precise 3D models of the asteroid’s surface. During the primary mission, one of the two Canadian-manufactured lasers ceased functioning, but it had exceeded its anticipated instrument lifespan and had successfully collected all the necessary data for OSIRIS-REx’s landing, as confirmed by investigators.

Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (RExIS) – RExIS concentrated on studying X-ray emissions emanating from Bennu, with the goal of generating a comprehensive map illustrating the distribution of various elements on the asteroid’s surface. Unlike other imaging tools, RExIS delved into the asteroid’s composition at the level of individual atomic elements.

Will OSIRIS-REx hit Earth?

The team operating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, an acronym representing Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer, has recently released fresh data. According to this data, there is an extremely low probability, specifically a one-in-2,700 chance, that the asteroid could collide with our planet. This potential impact event is estimated to occur nearly 159 years from now, specifically on September 24, 2182.

What did this mission discover?

The OSIRIS-REx mission journeyed to Bennu, an asteroid abundant in carbon, preserving the ancient history of our Solar System. This mission’s goal is to retrieve a portion of Bennu and return it to Earth. Bennu is believed to hold potential molecular building blocks that could shed light on the origins of life and even the formation of Earth’s oceans.

What is OSIRIS-REx and why is it important?

Indeed, OSIRIS-REx stands for “Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.” The primary objective of this mission is to acquire a sample weighing a minimum of 2.1 ounces (59.5 grams) from the near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu, previously identified as 1999 RQ36, and subsequently transport this sample back to Earth.

Did OSIRIS-REx return?

On September 24, 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will achieve a historic milestone by bringing back samples from the asteroid Bennu to Earth following seven years in the depths of space. This mission, initiated in 2016, successfully reached the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 and obtained samples from the surface of this near-Earth asteroid.

What is this mission powered by?

OSIRIS-REx is equipped with two solar panels attached to the zenith panel of the spacecraft, which serve as power generators. When unfurled, these solar arrays provide the spacecraft with an impressive wingspan of 6.2 meters, covering a total active area of 8.5 square meters.

Who built OSIRIS-REx?

The spacecraft for the OSIRIS-REx mission is being constructed by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver. This mission represents the third instalment in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. Oversight and management of the New Frontiers Program on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington are handled by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, situated in Huntsville, Alabama.

How does this mission communicate with Earth?

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is equipped with a high-gain antenna located on its sun-facing side, which facilitates communication with Earth. On the opposite side of the spacecraft is the TAGSAM, short for Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism. TAGSAM is a 3.4-meter-long, folding arm designed to extend. And collect a sample from the mission’s target, the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

Asteroid Dimorphos- Escaping of Boulders

Hubble saw escaping of boulders from Asteroid Dimorphos. If you are interested in knowing about its discovery, then this blog is for you.

Asteroid Dimorphos
Image of the asteroid Dimorphos, with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).
Credits: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Hubble Telescope Discovers Asteroid Dimorphos’ Post-DART Impact Drama

“Shake, Rattle, and Roll,” a popular rock song from 1954, could be the theme music for the discovery made by the Hubble Space Telescope about what is happening to the asteroid Dimorphos after NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) experiment. On September 26, 2022, DART hit Dimorphos on purpose, which slightly changed its path around the bigger asteroid Didymos.

Astronomers have found a group of boulders that may have been shaken off the asteroid Dimorphos when NASA slammed the half-ton DART impactor spaceship into Dimorphos at about 14,000 miles per hour. Hubble’s sensitivity made this possible.

Asteroid Dimorphos Unveils Boulders Ejected Post-DART Impact

Hubble photometry shows that the 37 loose rocks range in size from 3 feet to 22 feet across. They are moving away from the asteroid at a little more than a half-mile per hour, which is about as fast as a big tortoise can walk. About 0.1% of the mass of Dimorphos can be found in these rocks.

David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles, a planetary scientist who has been using Hubble to track changes in the asteroid during and after the DART impact, said:

“This is a spectacular observation – much better than I expected. We see a cloud of boulders carrying mass and energy away from the impact target. The numbers, sizes, and shapes of the boulders are consistent with them having been knocked off the surface of Dimorphos by the impact,”

“This tells us for the first time what happens when you hit an asteroid and see material coming out up to the largest sizes. The boulders are some of the faintest things ever imaged inside our solar system.”

Hubble Unveils New Dimension: Hera Spacecraft to Study DART Experiment’s Aftermath

Jewitt says that this opens up a new dimension for studying the aftermath of the DART experiment using the European Space Agency’s upcoming Hera spacecraft, which will arrive at the binary asteroid in late 2026. Hera will perform a detailed post-impact survey of the targeted asteroid.

Jewitt said:

“The boulder cloud from Asteroid Dimorphos will still be dispersing when Hera arrives. It’s like a very slowly expanding swarm of bees that eventually will spread along the binary pair’s orbit around the Sun.”
Most likely, the boulders are not parts of the small asteroid that broke up when it hit. They were already spread out across the surface of the asteroid, as seen in the last close-up picture taken by the DART spacecraft just two seconds before the crash when it was only seven miles above the surface.

Hubble Observations Shed Light on DART Impact: Estimated Crater Size and Dimorphos’ Formation

Jewitt estimates that the impact shook off two percent of the boulders on the asteroid’s surface. He says the boulder observations by Hubble also give an estimate for the size of the DART impact crater.

image of the asteroid Dimorphos
This is the last complete image of the asteroid Dimorphos, as seen by NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) impactor spacecraft two seconds before impact. The Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO) imager aboard captured a 100-foot-wide patch of the asteroid. The DART spacecraft streamed these images from its DRACO camera back to Earth in real time as it approached the asteroid. DART successfully impacted its target on September 26, 2022. Credits: NASA, APL

He said:

“The boulders could have been excavated from a circle of about 160 feet across (the width of a football field) on the surface of Dimorphos,”. Hera will eventually determine the actual crater size.

Long ago, Dimorphos may have formed from pieces of rock that the bigger asteroid Dimorpho shrew out into space. The parent body may have spun up too quickly, or it may have lost some of its mass after a near-miss with another object. The material that was thrown out made a ring that was pulled together by gravity to make Dimorphos. This would make it a flying pile of rocks and rock pieces that are only loosely held together by gravity. So, it’s likely that the inside isn’t solid but has more of a structure like a bunch of grapes.

Mystery of Ejected Rocks from Asteroid Dimorphos Hubble Observations Offer Clues

It’s not clear how the rocks got off the surface of the asteroid dimorphos. They might be part of an ejecta plume that Hubble and other telescopes saw and took pictures of. Or, the impact could have sent an earthquake wave through the asteroid, like hitting a bell with a hammer, shaking the surface debris loose.

“If we follow the boulders in future Hubble observations, then we may have enough data to pin down the boulders’ precise trajectories. And then we’ll see in which directions they were launched from the surface,” said Jewitt.

The DART and LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids) teams have also been looking at rocks found in pictures taken by the LICIACube LUKE (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer) camera in the minutes after DART’s impact.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project that NASA and ESA worked on together. The telescope is run by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Hubble and Webb science operations are run by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which is based in Washington, D.C., runs STScI for NASA.

Asteroid 2023 HY3: Close encounter with earth today, says NASA

Despite the development of advanced technologies by space agencies such as NASA and ESA for asteroid tracking and monitoring, the very first discovery of an asteroid was accidental. It was made by astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801 while he was making a star map, and he named the object Ceres. With a diameter of about 1000 kilometers (twice the length of New York State), Ceres is also the largest asteroid ever observed. While it’s not as big as Ceres, NASA has issued a warning about an asteroid 2023 HY3 that is expected to come closest to Earth today.

Will Asteroid 2023 HY3 going to hit the Earth?

This asteroid will pass extremely close to Earth, but it is not thought to pose any threat of collision. NASA estimates that Asteroid 2023 HY3 will be about 6.3 million km from Earth as it passes by. It has reached a velocity of 23596 km/h.

Who is monitoring the Asteroid 2023 HY3?

NASA’s Planetary Defence Coordination Office keeps an eye out for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that could cause any damage to Earth. An asteroid known as 2023 HY3 has been the subject of a warning from the group. Today, May 1, is when this NEA will get rather close to our planet.

Like its given name, asteroid 1221 Amor, 2023 HY3 is a member of the Amor group of asteroids, which consists of Earth-approaching near-Earth asteroids with orbits outside Earth’s but within Mars’.

Is NASA also involved in the ground based observation as well?

NASA uses a number of ground-based telescopes to observe and analyze far-off asteroids. These telescopes include the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Antofagasta Region of the Atacama Desert in Chile.

In addition, NASA has implemented a new impact monitoring system that employs an algorithm dubbed Sentry-Il to determine the potential threat posed by Near-Earth Objects. Using this infrared data, NASA can monitor the asteroid’s orbit and make predictions about its path years in the future. Nearly 28,000 Earth-approaching asteroids have been spotted by various sky-tracking technologies so far.

SpaceX’s Largest Rocket Explodes in Test Flight

In a major test flight of SpaceX largest rocket, the massive Starship took off from a launch pad in southern Texas today. However, the rocket exploded before reaching space and cut short the flight. In a recent launch attempt, Starship and its booster successfully lifted off from the launch pad and ascended to a height of 39 kilometers. However, the spacecraft unexpectedly lost control and unfortunately exploded just four minutes into the flight before the planned separation could occur. During a webcast of the launch attempt, John Insprucker, the principal integration engineer for SpaceX, which constructed Starship, stated that the situation was not normal.

SpaceX has achieved a significant milestone with its most ambitious rocket. It successfully launched from the pad with up to 33 engines firing in synchrony. This achievement is a major step forward for the company. According to Insprucker, the Starship provided a remarkable conclusion to an already remarkable test.

SpaceX has set the upcoming Starship flights to usher in a fresh era of space exploration, which includes transporting people to the Moon and Mars. This development could also pave the way for novel forms of astrophysics and planetary science. The rocket had no crew on its inaugural test flight.

The rocket with the highest power:

In a recent development, it has been revealed that Starship boasts of almost double the power of NASA’s latest deep-space rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which took its maiden flight in November. Until now, Starship had only undergone a few tests at low altitudes above SpaceX’s spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas. Today’s mission was to achieve space travel and orbit most of the planet before landing in the ocean near Hawaii.

According to Laura Forczyk, the executive director of Astralytical, a space consulting company in Atlanta, Georgia, the successful demonstration of Starship’s ability to reach orbit by SpaceX would have a significant impact on future developments.

SpaceX has announced its plans to utilize the Starship spacecraft to establish a human settlement on the planet Mars. NASA has set its sights on utilizing the vehicle to assist in landing astronauts on the Moon’s surface soon as a component of its proposed Artemis missions. Scientists are envisioning the potential of utilizing Starship’s vast size to transport large telescopes for planetary missions into the depths of space.

During the Space Symposium held in Colorado Springs, Colorado on April 18th, Julianna Scheiman, the director of NASA satellite missions at SpaceX, expressed her enthusiasm for the potential of utilizing Starship to advance scientific research.

Crafts that can be reused:

The Starship spacecraft resembles a colossal metal tube. It stands at a towering height of 120 meters. When combined with its Super Heavy rocket booster, it becomes even taller. Moreover, scientists have developed a new spacecraft that can transport up to 150 tonnes of equipment into space. The designers have innovatively crafted a fully reusable transportation system for future space missions, making it cost-effective. In a bid to reduce the expenses of space travel, SpaceX has announced its intention to recover and reuse its components.

According to Jennifer Heldmann, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, the limitations of space flight have always been mass, volume, and cost. Starship effectively removes all of these limitations.

Between 1981 and 2011, NASA completed 135 missions to low Earth orbit with its space shuttles. These shuttles were designed for routine space access. NASA has decided to retire the shuttle. Instead, they will focus on developing a more advanced SLS. This will enable deeper space exploration.

SpaceX has successfully created smaller rockets that are partially reusable, including the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy series. Various users, including governments and companies, frequently use these rockets to launch satellites. SpaceX plans to utilize its Starship spacecraft for the deployment of larger objects, including the upcoming Starlink communications satellites. However, some astronomers have raised concerns about the potential impact of these satellites on nighttime observations.

Challenges Faced by Rockets:

By Forczyk, the ability of SpaceX to deliver on its commitment to frequent and also cost-effective Starship flights remains uncertain. The potential of Starship to deliver smaller rockets is advantageous for the spacecraft. NASA has endorsed it as a crucial component of their Moon exploration initiative, which further strengthens its potential.

As demonstrated by today’s flight, the development of any new rocket remains a difficult task. Shortly, it is highly probable that SpaceX will conduct tests on several other Starships that have already been constructed. According to Forczyk, there is a possibility of witnessing substantial advancements this year. The possibility remains uncertain.

 

Published by: Sky Headlines