The Dart spacecraft will soon hit the asteroid

The first planetary defense spacecraft of the American space agency NASA, which has been sent to change the direction of the asteroid 10.9 million kilometers away from the earth, hit the space rock at a speed of 24 thousand 140 kilometers per hour this month. will The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which was launched in November last year, will now collide with a small asteroid called Dimorphos after a journey of about a year.

Experts say that this asteroid revolves around a large asteroid called Didymos. After six nights of observations by two of the most powerful telescopes, Didymos’ orbit has been confirmed to be aligned with the US space agency’s Dart craft. These observations confirmed the orbital measurements to be made in 2021. These observations were made in the month of July by the Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona and the Magellan Telescope in Chile.

According to Andy Rivkin, co-leader of the Dart Investigation Team from Johns Hopkins University, the measurements the team took in early 2021 were critical to getting Dart to the right location and timing the collision with the dimorphs. . Confirmation of those measurements with new observations suggests that we do not need to change and that we are on the right track to pursue the goal.

Didymos and Dimorphs will pass close to Earth at a distance of 1.8 million kilometers at the end of September. The 548.8 kg spacecraft, built at a cost of 32.5 million dollars, is intended to collide with Dimorphs and increase the asteroid’s speed. The tenth part is to change.