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NASA Dart Mission

Karen Sun

Presentation Topic: NASA Dart Mission

Presenters: Hosted by Kurt Kruger, presentation by Kurt Kruger
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2022

Presentation Summary

NASA's first planetary defense mission is prepared to impact on September 26, 2022.

Though the spacecraft launched nearly a year ago on November 24, 2021, it’s finally going to

make its impact. This planetary defense mission is also known as the NASA Dart Mission, or,

the double asteroid redirection test. This mission is NASA’s demonstration of the ability to use

kinetic impactor technology to re-adjust an asteroid's speed and path. This mission will have no

direct impact on Earth, instead, it’s made to protect and defend Earth from any case of an

asteroid colliding with it in the future. For this mission, NASA is primarily researching two

asteroids, Didymos A and Didymos B, also known as Dimorphos. Didymos A is the bigger of

the two at around 8 football fields high, (780m), and Dimorphos is about 2 football fields high

(160m). Dimorphos orbits Didymos and the spacecraft is expected to crash right into Dimorphos

and it’s aiming to interrupt the orbit. NASA spent over 300 million dollars on the DART mission

as a whole which poses the question, why? Well, DART will deal with NEOs, (near-Earth

objects) and if humans want to live as a species, they need to figure out how to deal with

asteroids and NEOs. There is usually only a two-week warning for NEOs and having technology

like the DART could really save lives and the Earth in the future. Though there aren’t any

planned asteroids to hit for at least 100 years, people can’t be 100 percent sure. As of September
2022, only 40 percent of asteroids have even been discovered so, the DART mission will bring

many benefits to research and to Earth.

Reflection

I always really enjoy going to presentations hosted by Mr. Kruger because he shows

genuine interest in his presentations which makes listening way more interesting and fun. The

SPARQ Center is also such a great place to relax and listen. This presentation was my first time

listening to something about the DART mission. All of the information was new to me, and

though I don’t keep up with astronomy as much, I still hear about big projects like the James

Webb Space Telescope and Artemis 1 through social media platforms like Tik Tok and Twitter;

so, it shocked me that this has been going on for nearly a year and I haven’t heard about it at all.

I didn’t know they launched it last year and I also didn’t know that the impact date was so close

and only a few days away. The thought of an asteroid hitting Earth has always freaked me out a

bit because it could affect Earth in so many bad ways, and, there’s nowhere else to go if Earth

ever got terribly destroyed. Now, I know that it’s very unlikely, and an asteroid has to be very

very big to completely wipe out Earth. But, I do know that even a small asteroid hitting Earth can

damage it. This thought has always been a worry in the back of my mind and hearing about the

DART mission relieves that thought and a bit of stress. I’m actually really excited to keep

watching the DART mission and see if it will eventually be a good way to change the direction,

and speed, of an asteroid. When Mr. Kruger first brought it up, I thought that they were just now

starting to develop it before learning that it was already in space and about ready to hit its first

target. I will be monitoring the DART mission for the next few days until it collides with

Dimorphos because I’m curious to see the results.

Related Article Summary
Author: George Dvorsky
Date Published: September 15, 2022
Title: What to Expect from NASA’s DART Mission to Deflect an Asteroid
Article: GIZMODO: What to Expect From NASA's DART Mission

What to Expect from NASA’s DART Mission to Deflect an Asteroid, written by George

Dvorsky illustrates the DART mission as a whole and how it came to be. The DART mission is

designed as a test mission for planetary defense for the chance that Earth is met face to face with

an asteroid in the future. As a part of this test, DART is programmed to crash into an asteroid

named Domorphos. Though there is currently no threat of an asteroid hitting Earth for the next

100 years or so, the knowledge gained from the DART mission could really help the Earth and

people if an asteroid does end up on a path toward Earth. To avoid the chances of small debris of

asteroids falling into Earth, instead of head-on smashing the asteroids, NASA has taken a

different approach. They have decided on trying to alter the speed and direction of an asteroid to

avoid any harm that could possibly be implicated on Earth. NASA’s very expensive $308 million

project is made just to test the theory and alter the direction of asteroids. On September 26, 2022,

a 1,376-pound probe is expected to crash into Domorphos at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour.

Dormorphos was chosen specifically because it poses no threat to Earth and by using it as a test,

NASA will be able to gain information and test viable strategies for changing the directions of

dangerous asteroids if ever needed.