WHAT IS THE DART MISSION?
It stands for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test. It's essentially a big science experiment to see if crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is a good way to change its orbit around the Sun and potentially deflect an Earth-crossing asteroid away, should that happen in the future... or rather when that happens.
TELL US ABOUT THE SPACECRAFT.
DART is quite a hefty spacecraft. It weighs more than half a tonne, at 610 kilograms. One of my favourite things about this mission is that onboard is a CubeSat [LICIACube, or Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids]. CubeSats are little, miniature satellites about the size of a champagne bottle. This particular CubeSat is Italian in origin and it's got a camera.
WHY WAS THE DIDYMOS BINARY ASTEROID SYSTEM SELECTED AS THE TARGET FOR THE MISSION?
The double asteroid is a cool little system. Much like the Earth has a celestial companion with the Moon, some asteroids have celestial companions, too. We call them binary asteroids. The target is made up of two individual objects: Didymos A, which is about 780 metres across, that's roughly seven football pitches; and its smaller companion Dimorphos, which is 160 metres across. The DART mission targeted the smaller of the two, Dimorphos.
It's important to stress that this particular asteroid system doesn't pose a threat to the Earth. It was merely chosen as a target based on its orbit around the Sun. It's got a very well-determined orbit and we will be able to track the new orbit to see if it's changed.
One of the really mind-blowing things about these asteroids is that we don't actually know a lot about them, other than their orbital parameters. We don't know what they look like. We don't know exactly what they're made of. And that's actually true, for basically every single asteroid in the Solar System.
This story is from the October 2022 edition of BBC Science Focus.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2022 edition of BBC Science Focus.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
5 SIMPLE WAYS TO RECLAIM YOUR ATTENTION
Primed for constant interruptions, your brain is now distracting itself, says science. It's time to break the cycle and retrain your focus
GOING ROGUE
Some planets are stuck following the same orbital paths their entire lives. Others break free to wander alone through the vast, empty darkness of interstellar space and there's a lot more of them than you might think
BED BUGS VS THE WORLD
When bloodthirsty bed bugs made headlines for infesting Paris Fashion Week in 2023, it shone a spotlight on a problem that's been making experts itch for decades: the arms race going on between bed bugs and humans. Now, with the 2024 Summer Olympics fast approaching, the stakes are higher than ever
THE EYES THAT WATCH THE SKY
When it launches in 2026, the Copernicus programme's Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring satellite will give us a new window on to Earth's atmosphere... And how we're altering it
TIME-RESTRICTED EATING LINKED TO HIGHER RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DEATH
Skipping breakfast might not be so good for your health, after all
INSIDE THE PROJECT TO SCAN THOUSANDS OF RARE SPECIMENS
A major collaborative project has created 3D reconstructions of previously locked away museum specimens
VIDEO IS FIRST EVIDENCE OF AN ORCA KILLING A GREAT WHITE
Tourists sailing off the South African coast film a never-before-seen event: a lone orca attacking a 2.5m shark
AI REVEALS PROSTATE CANCER IS NOT JUST ONE DISEASE
DNA analysis carried out by artificial intelligence has helped scientists make a discovery that could revolutionise future treatment
MYSTERIOUS WAVES DETECTED IN JUPITER'S CORE
Scientists hope unusual fluctuations in the gas giant's magnetic field might reveal what's inside
MINI ORGANS GROWN FROM UNBORN BABIES MARK A BREAKTHROUGH IN PRENATAL MEDICINE
A new technique could allow congenital conditions to be diagnosed and treated before birth