Amy Love

Opinions Editor

aml7458@psu.edu

On November 23, NASA launched a probe named DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test. It was launched off of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9, and the location from which it was launched was Vandenberg Space in California. The cost of this mission was 330 million dollars.

This is called the DART mission, and it is programmed to travel toward and collide with a moonlet that is extremely far from Earth. The purpose of this mission is to demonstrate that NASA is capable of changing the pathway of an asteroid. The technique that NASA is calling this is the kinetic impactor. 

DART will be making the journey towards Dimorphous, which is a moonlet that has a diameter of approximately 530 feet. Dimorphous orbits an even bigger asteroid called Didymus, which has a diameter that is approximately 2,560 feet.DART will collide with Dimorphous, changing the orbit it has around Didymus. 

There is no actual threat to Earth; this is all merely a test run. This is all based on an idea of scientists being able to alter the direction of an asteroid capable of causing mass extinction if they are aware that it is heading toward Earth. Scientists at NASA want to have an effective response ready for a situation like that. Therefore, techniques are now being tested. DART is essentially testing whether or not an intentional collision is an effective way to alter the path of the asteroid. 

The collision is expected to happen sometime around September in 2022. The results  from this will inform those who are working on this project, as well as other projects that are similar, on the most effective ways to protect Earth if there were ever a situation where this would be needed. 

According to Cnet, NASA is waiting for an “acquisition of signal.” This signal alerts the team that is working on DART that it is fine and is ready to start traveling towards Dimorphous. 

“This is just the end of the first act, and the DART investigation and engineering teams have much work to do over the next year preparing for the main event- DART’s kinetic impact on Dimporphos. But tonight we celebrate!,” said Dr. Andy Cheng, who is one of the investigation leads for DART at the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He is also a co-leader for the DART mission. 

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, who is the NASA science association administrator, said that DART is the first of many planetary defense missions planned. The next project is to develop a near-Earth survey, which is essentially a space-based telescope. It will be used to search for asteroids that are near Earth. 

DART will be the first for these types of missions, and it “is a testament to NASA’s proactivity and innovation for the benefit of all,” as said by Bill Nelson, who is an administrator for NASA. 

Nelson also stated the following, “In addition to all the ways NASA studies our Universe and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home, and this test will help prove out one variable way to protect our planet from a hazardous asteroid should one ever be discovered that is headed toward Earth.” 

Again, DART is just a test run, but it will allow scientists to see if this technique is successful at changing the pathway of an asteroid. There is no threat that DART is resolving, but rather proving a solution if there were to ever be a threat to Earth.