Debris From NASA's DART Asteroid Collision Could Spark A Meteor Display On Earth
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NASA ⁘s DART mission in 2022 dramatically altered an asteroid⁘s orbit, potentially sending debris toward Earth and Mars , creating observable meteors.
ESA⁘s upcoming Hera mission aims to closely examine these impacts, enhancing our planetary defense techniques and possibly leading to the observation of the first human-made meteor shower.
In 2022 NASA⁘s DART spacecraft made history , and changed the Solar System forever, by impacting the Dimorphos asteroid and measurably shifting its orbit around the larger Didymos asteroid. In the process, a plume of debris was thrown out into space.
The latest modeling, accepted for publication in the September volume of The Planetary Science Journal , shows how small meteoroids from that debris could eventually reach both Mars and Earth ⁘ potentially in an observable (although quite safe) manner.
On September 26, 2022, NASA⁘s approximately half-tonne Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) spacecraft impacted the 151 m diameter Dimorphos asteroid at an approximate speed of 6.1 km/s, shortening its orbit around Didymos by more than half an hour during the first part of an international planetary defense collaboration.
ESA⁘s Hera spacecraft will be launched this October to reach Dimorphos and perform a close-up ⁘crash scene investigation⁘, gathering data on the asteroid⁘s mass, structure, and make-up to turn this kinetic impact method of planetary defense into a well-understood and repeatable technique.
⁘We simulated the ejecta to match LICIACube observations using three million particles grouped into three size populations ⁘ 10 cm, 0.5 cm, and 30 ⁘m, or thousandths of a millimeter ⁘ moving at speeds of 1 to 1000 m/s or a faster rate of up to 2 km/s.⁘
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