"We were able to go into orbit, we were able to leave orbit, we were able to get into a variety of imaging angles." "The trajectory of the spacecraft was really amazing - I compare it to a hummingbird," Dante Lauretta, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx and an author on the new research, said during the news conference. OSIRIS-REx (formally known as Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) launched in September 2016 and slipped into orbit around the asteroid Bennu in December 2018.Īfter its arrival, the spacecraft spent nearly two and a half years studying the space rock from orbit, swooping in, hovering overhead and inspecting the rock in every way possible. I think that, overall, the situation has improved. "I think that, overall, the situation has improved." Precision counts This mission is the world’s first test of the kinetic impact technique, using a spacecraft to deflect an asteroid for planetary defense."The impact probability went up just a little bit but it's not a significant change, the impact probability is pretty much the same," lead author Davide Farnocchia, who works at NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies in California, said during a news conference held Wednesday (Aug. The target asteroid is not on a path to collide with Earth and therefore poses no actual threat to the planet, according to NASA.
The spacecraft will impact Dimorphos on September 26, 2022, to change its orbit within the binary system. NASA's DARTlifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in November 2021. 26, DART will intentionally impact Dimorphos to change its speed & orbit.Learn more: /AjDtr0V2ZS 22.ĭART sets sights on asteroid target ☄️🛰️ #DARTMission spacecraft recently got a first look at Didymos and its asteroid moonlet, Dimorphos. In September, we'll refine where DART is aiming by getting a more precise determination of Didymos' location," said Julie Bellerose, the DART navigation lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.ĭRACO has subsequently observed Didymos during planned observations on Aug. "Seeing the DRACO images of Didymos for the first time, we can iron out the best settings for DRACO and fine-tune the software. But once the 243 images were combined, the team was able to enhance it to reveal Didymos and pinpoint its location. From this distance - about 20 million miles away from DART - the Didymos system is still very faint, and navigation camera experts were uncertain whether DRACO would be able to spot the asteroid yet. On July 27, 2022, the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO) took 243 images of Didymos. Recently, the spacecraft got its first look at Didymos, the double-asteroid system that includes its target, Dimorphos. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), NASA's first-ever planetary defense test mission, is gearing up to intentionally crash into an asteroid later this month. Devdiscourse News Desk | California | Updated: 08-09-2022 12:50 IST | Created: 08-09-2022 12:50 IST Image Credit: Twitter SHARE
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