NASA's DART spacecraft slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos at a spot between two boulders during last September's first test of a planetary defense system, sending debris hurtling into space and changing the rocky oblong-shaped object's path a bit more than previously calculated.
"We were trying to change the amount of time that it took for Dimorphos to orbit around Didymos by colliding head-on with Dimorphos," said Northern Arizona University planetary scientist Cristina Thomas, lead author of another of the studies published in"The momentum of the collision and the momentum of the ejected material both acted to decrease the amount of time it takes Dimorphos to orbit by 33 minutes.
Prior to the impact, the orbital period was 11 hours and 55 minutes. It now is 11 hours and 22 minutes. NASA's previous estimate, announced in October, was an orbital change of 32 minutes. The benchmark for success had been set as a change of at least 1 minute and 13 seconds."First, one of the spacecraft's solar panels directly hit a large boulder near the impact site. Next, the second solar panel grazed another large boulder.
"We suspect that these two boulders were destroyed. After impact, ejecta was launched from the surface for a period of time," Daly added, saying satellite and telescope images showed a large amount of such material. The research also clarified details such as the precise location of the impact and the angle of impact.
"People may think of the DART mission as a fairly straightforward experiment that is similar to playing billiards in space - one solid spacecraft impacts into one solid asteroid," Thomas said. "However, asteroids are far more complex than just a solid rock. In fact, most asteroids are what we think of as rubble piles.""We don't know of any asteroids at this time that pose a threat to Earth, but we want to be ready for such a scenario," Daly said.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
What we learned from NASA's asteroid-smashing DART missionThe Double Asteroid Redirection Test smashed into the asteroid Dimorphos in 2022, and the huge plume of rubble from the collision more than tripled the momentum transferred from the spacecraft to the asteroid
Consulte Mais informação »
DART's epic asteroid crash: What NASA has learned 5 months laterWe now know that we can knock an asteroid off course.
Consulte Mais informação »
Dallas Council Members Blast DART Sales Tax PlanDallas City Council Members Tuesday blasted DART officials over what they called a “bait and switch” scheme for use of sale tax money Dallas residents have already paid.
Consulte Mais informação »
DART president says Dallas might not get most of $111 million promised by transit agencyDART President and CEO Nadine Lee told City Council members on Tuesday that the city has cost DART an estimated $50 million in delays related to the planned...
Consulte Mais informação »
Slam! Hubble sees strange changes in asteroid dust after DART collision (video)Science continues to roll in from DART's epic September 2022 asteroid crash.
Consulte Mais informação »
Letters to the Editor: Mask mandate opponents are reading the studies wrongA nurse praises Times columnist Michael Hiltzik for pointing out how the opponents of mask mandates overstate the findings of some studies.
Consulte Mais informação »