For the first time, a probe from the US space agency Nasa intentionally crashed into an asteroid during a defense test in space. The unmanned probe of the mission “Dart” (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), equipped only with a camera, steered into the asteroid Dimorphos as planned on Tuesday night, as shown by live images from NASA. This is a first attempt to see if it might be possible to alter the trajectory of an asteroid in this way.
The mission made history, said Nasa manager Lori Glaze. “We are now entering a new era for humanity where we may have the ability to protect ourselves against an asteroid impact.” In images transmitted back to Earth from the spacecraft’s camera, the asteroid Dimorphos, the size of a football stadium, first became visible as a bright point about an hour before impact, then grew larger and eventually became visible with surface detail and shading – until the camera was destroyed on impact and the image displayed a red clutter. Cheers broke out in the NASA control center, the team clapped and hugged each other.
Until shortly before the impact, it was not quite certain whether the probe, which was traveling at 6.6 kilometers per second and is about the size of a vending machine, would actually hit the asteroid. “We’ve planned this moment for so long and talked about it so much – but the images have exceeded my expectations,” said Nasa executive Nancy Chabot. Nasa boss Bill Nelson congratulated his team. “You did really well.”
The “Dart” probe was in November 2021 using a Falcon-9-Missile launched from the US state of California. According to NASA calculations, Dimorphos, a kind of moon of the asteroid Didymos, currently poses no danger to Earth – and the mission is designed in such a way that the asteroid should not pose a danger even after the probe has hit it. From the approximately 330 million dollar mission, Nasa hopes to find out how the earth could be protected if an asteroid that is dangerous for the earth should approach.
Fascinating close-up of rocks: The Dart probe sent the last image two seconds before the impact.
(Photo: NASA/via REUTERS)
NASA and researchers around the world have been grappling with this question for many years. An asteroid impact around 66 million years ago, for example, is considered by scientists to be the leading theory as to why the dinosaurs became extinct. Scientists don’t currently know of any asteroids that could be heading straight for Earth any time soon – but researchers have identified around 27,000 asteroids near our planet, around 10,000 of them with a diameter of more than 140 meters. After the successful impact, the actual scientific work begins, said Nasa manager Glaze. The researchers now have to investigate whether the approximately twelve-hour orbit of the Dimorphos has changed as a result of the impact of the probe – and if so, how much it has changed. The “Hera” mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) is scheduled to start in 2024 to investigate this question even more closely.