Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid crashed into the earth and suddenly changed life on the planet. The most famous victims of the inferno were the dinosaurs, which then became extinct. To the knowledge of experts, no asteroid of this type is currently hurtling towards Earth, but what if it does? NASA experts are testing such a scenario with the “Double Asteroid Redirection Test” mission, or DART for short. The probe was launched into space in November 2021. Tonight, September 27, at 1:14 a.m. Central European Time, it is scheduled to hit the asteroid moon Dimorphos. If the mission is successful, the chunk should then be on a slightly different orbit. NASA is reporting the progress of its asteroid defense test live on its YouTube channel tonight.
The DART mission began on November 24, 2021, when the probe was placed on course for Dimorphos on a Falcon 9 rocket from the private space company SpaceX. The asteroid was approximately 11 million kilometers from Earth at the time of impact. The lump with a diameter of about 163 meters orbits the larger asteroid Didymos as a mini moon, which measures about 780 meters in diameter. If the mission goes according to plan, the approximately 610-kilogram, cube-shaped DART probe will collide with the satellite at a speed of 22,000 kilometers per hour. After impact, Dimorphos will orbit its parent asteroid with a different trajectory, reducing its 12-hour orbital period by at least 73 seconds. Depending on whether the probe hits the asteroid in the middle or on the side, the orbital period could be delayed by several minutes.