The first intentional collision of a spacecraft with an asteroid, according to a first video of the maneuver, had a great effect. The grainy black-and-white images first show the asteroid moon Dimorphos, and then a huge cloud of debris and dust ahead of Dimorphos. This indicates that the NASA probe Dart severely affected the celestial body as desired.
“We have done damage to Dimorphos,” said Patrick Michel of the European Space Agency (ESA), which is involved in interpreting the experiment. The volume of “ejected material” is “pretty incredible”. The dust cloud can now be used to estimate the density of Dimorphos’ surface.
Asteroid damaged: Probe Dart is about the size of a car
The US space agency Nasa sent the Dart space probe into space last year in order to make it collide with the asteroid moon Dimorphos and change its orbit. On the night of Tuesday, the probe, which was about the size of a car, then raced into the celestial body at a speed of more than 23,000 kilometers per hour.
It was the first maneuver ever in space to test the defense against an asteroid threatening Earth. The aim was to slightly change Dimorphos’ orbit around the asteroid Didymos and to shorten its orbital period by up to ten minutes from the previous twelve hours.
In order to steer a dangerous asteroid past the earth in an emergency, only minimal course changes would be necessary with early intervention. A similar technique was previously only known from science fiction films such as “Armageddon”.
Probe Dart produced a “very, very large” dust cloud
The Atlas asteroid warning system released video of the maneuver composed of images from its telescope in South Africa. According to Atlas scientist Larry Denneau, the telescope took a picture every 40 seconds. The resulting video therefore shows a period of two hours in time lapse.
Denneau pointed out that the Dart probe created a “very, very large” cloud of dust upon impact. It had a diameter of several thousand kilometers.
Analysis of the dart experiment will continue in the coming weeks. For an even more detailed investigation, ESA wants to send out its Hera probe in 2024, which should reach the asteroid two years later. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is significantly involved in the mission.