Sinister Security: DART

Mystery Asteroid 'Beyond Range of Telescopes' Hurtling Towards Earth... & NASA's 'Excited'

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The scientists said they are “excited” by the asteroid, which could be as large as 100 feet in size. It is expected to fly past Earth on October 12, and while NASA said it is "absolutely certain" the rock will miss the planet, they are unsure how close it will pass.

They said the rock will not come within 4,200 miles from the surface of the Earth but cannot be more specific as it has been out of the range of telescopes since 2012.

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They said the asteroid, known as 2012 TC4, will improve their ability to locate future threats to Earth as it passes by the planet. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) explained:

“NASA scientists are excited about the upcoming close flyby of a small asteroid and plan to use its upcoming October close approach to Earth as an opportunity not only for science, but to test NASA's network of observatories and scientists who work with planetary defense.”

Michael Kelley, who is leading the observation campaign, said NASA were using the flyby as a "test". He said:

“Scientists have always appreciated knowing when an asteroid will make a close approach to and safely pass the Earth because they can make preparations to collect data to characterise and learn as much as possible about it. This time we are adding in another layer of effort, using this asteroid flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid threat.”

The asteroid first passed Earth in 2012 before disappearing into the Solar System beyond the range of telescopes. Since then NASA has been anticipating its return, which will occur in October.

Paul Chodas of JPL said:

“This is the perfect target for such an exercise because while we know the orbit of 2012 TC4 well enough to be absolutely certain it will not impact Earth, we haven't established its exact path just yet. It will be incumbent upon the observatories to get a fix on the asteroid as it approaches, and work together to obtain follow-up observations than make more refined asteroid orbit determinations possible."

How NASA Plans to Deflect an Asteroid | VIDEO

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NASA Set to Collide Spaceship into Asteroid to ‘Knock It off Course’

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The European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are working together on a project (DART) that could one day save our planet from an impending comet or asteroid strike. Both space agencies expect to have their first test spacecraft’s launch-ready by 2022 and will see how their spacecraft perform by trying to move a non-threatening space object in an experimental mission.

DART stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test.

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Speaking about the ‘futuristic’ project, Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said:

“DART would be NASA’s first mission to demonstrate what’s known as the kinetic impactor technique—striking the asteroid to shift its orbit—to defend against a potential future asteroid impact. This approval step advances the project toward a historic test with a non-threatening small asteroid.” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s planetary defense officer in Washington, in the press release.

Artist concept of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft. DART, which is moving to the preliminary design phase, would be NASA’s first mission to demonstrate an asteroid deflection technique for planetary defense.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL

NASA and ESA are targeting a test asteroid system referred to as Didymos said the news brief. Didymos—which stands for twin in Greek—is a binary asteroid system composed of two asteroids orbiting each other.

In 2022, when Didymos will make its closest approach near Earth, NASA and ESA will launch a spacecraft towards the asteroid. Prior to the collision, the DART spacecraft will travel at around 4 miles per second, after which it will impact the asteroid (Didymos B—which has around 160 meters in length) and hopefully set it off course.

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The news brief states tha t:

“The kinetic impact technique works by changing the speed of a threatening asteroid by a small fraction of its total velocity, but by doing it well before the predicted impact so that this small nudge will add up over time to a big shift of the asteroid’s path away from Earth.”

On Earth, astronomers will carefully study the impact and what effect it will have on the asteroid. In order to conclude whether or not DART is a feasible and effective option for setting potentially hazardous asteroids off course.

“DART is a critical step in demonstrating we can protect our planet from a future asteroid impact. Since we don’t know that much about their internal structure or composition, we need to perform this experiment on a real asteroid. With DART, we can show how to protect Earth from an asteroid strike with a kinetic impactor by knocking the hazardous object into a different flight path that would not threaten the planet.” said Andy Cheng, who is co-leading the DART investigation at APL along with Andy Rivkin.

Sinister Security

Mystery Asteroid 'Beyond Range of Telescopes' Hurtling Towards Earth... & NASA's 'Excited'

How NASA Plans to Deflect an Asteroid | VIDEO

NASA Set to Collide Spaceship into Asteroid to ‘Knock It off Course’

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