DART-ing An Asteroid -- Live Tonight (UPDATED)

 

Must- see NASA TV tonight!

More than 6.5 million miles away from Earth, a cosmic collision is imminent.

In a first-of-its-kind maneuver, a NASA spacecraft is set to intentionally smash into an asteroid to test whether deflecting a space rock could one day protect Earth from a potentially catastrophic impact.

The crash is planned for 7:14 p.m. ET Monday. Live coverage will air on NASA TV beginning at 6 p.m. ET.

The mission, known as DART, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will attempt a method of planetary defense that could save Earth from an asteroid on a potential collision course with the planet. It's a rare opportunity to conduct a real-world experiment on an asteroid that doesn't pose a threat to Earth, said Bruce Betts, the chief scientist at the Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that conducts research, advocacy and outreach to promote space exploration.  [snip]

The DART probe's target is a space rock called Dimorphos, which measures 525 feet across and orbits a much larger, 2,500-foot-wide asteroid named Didymos.

On Monday, the spacecraft will crash into Dimorphos at a blistering speed of around 4 miles per second, or 15,000 mph. The goal isn't to obliterate the asteroid but rather to see whether the collision can alter the space rock's nearly 12-hour orbit.  [snip]

The DART probe, which is about the size of a small car, will be destroyed in the maneuver, but a small, Italian-built cubesat that was deployed as part of the mission will be able to assess the immediate aftermath.

The tiny satellite, known as LICIACube, will fly within 25 to 50 miles of Dimorphos a few minutes after the crash, Dan Lubey, the LICIACube navigation lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement — "close enough to get good images of the impact and ejecta plume, but not so close LICIACube could be hit by ejecta.  (our emphasis)

We'd say, assuming all goes as planned, that's a damned good use of taxpayer dollars.

UPDATE:

IMPACT SUCCESS! Watch from #DARTMIssion’s DRACO Camera, as the vending machine-sized spacecraft successfully collides with asteroid Dimorphos, which is the size of a football stadium and poses no threat to Earth. pic.twitter.com/7bXipPkjWD

— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2022

 

 

DART-ing An Asteroid

Using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, NASA launches a DART at a distant asteroid:

NASA launched a spacecraft Tuesday night on a mission to smash into an asteroid and test whether it would be possible to knock a speeding space rock off course if one were to threaten Earth.

The DART spacecraft, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in a $330 million project with echoes of the Bruce Willis movie “Armageddon.”

If all goes well, in September 2022 it will slam head-on into Dimorphos, an asteroid 525 feet (160 meters) across, at 15,000 mph (24,139 kph).

“This isn’t going to destroy the asteroid. It’s just going to give it a small nudge,” said mission official Nancy Chabot of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which is managing the project.

We pause here to refresh ourselves on the law of unintended consequences... Done.

Here's how the plan works:

Dimorphos orbits a much larger asteroid called Didymos. The pair are no danger to Earth but offer scientists a way to measure the effectiveness of the collision.

Dimorphos completes one orbit of Didymos every 11 hours, 55 minutes. DART’s goal is a crash that will slow Dimorphos down and cause it to fall closer toward the bigger asteroid, shaving 10 minutes off its orbit.

The change in the orbital period will be measured by telescopes on Earth. The minimum change for the mission to be considered a success is 73 seconds.

Neither asteroid is a threat to Earth, nor is there any currently known asteroid ("that we know of!") on a collision course with us.  But, we're happy Earthlings with the wherewithal for "planetary defense" are planning and working on it just in case.

Also, the collision will be streamed:

Ten days beforehand, DART will release a tiny observation spacecraft supplied by the Italian space agency that will follow it.

DART will stream video until it is destroyed on impact. Three minutes later, the trailing craft will make images of the impact site and material that is ejected.

So, good luck, DART.  We'll mark our calendar for September 2022.

(Illustration: DART spacecraft with deployed solar arrays/ NASA) 

First Flight Of A Powered Aircraft On Another Planet

 

 Ingenuity!

 

Video of Ingenuity's first flight from NASA's Perseverance rover, showing spin-up, hover, and landing:#MarsHelicopter pic.twitter.com/iPEnUtu6is

— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) April 19, 2021

 

"Ingenuity has performed its first flight — the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet!"

The data reveals: Our #MarsHelicopter has had a successful first flight: 🚁 pic.twitter.com/h5a6aGGgHG

— NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021

 

Congratulations to the entire NASA team for this historic accomplishment!

R.I.P. Mars Opportunity Rover

You lived a long, productive life:

NASA has sent its last message to the Opportunity Mars rover. But it doesn’t expect a reply. 

The robot has been silent for the past eight months, disappearing amid an intense dust storm on the red planet. As the thick dust whipped up and around the rover – and across the entirety of Mars – the sunlight that powers it was blocked and its batteries ran out. 

NASA has now issued a last series of recovery commands. It joins more than 1,000 messages that have been sent in an attempt to wake up the rover. 

The space agency will reveal the results of that last attempt at a major press conference. That event will probably see it declare Opportunity dead, after 15 years and many miles spent exploring Mars.

Opportunity and its twin rover Spirit landed on the surface of Mars in January 2004 and were only expected to survive their roles as geologic explorers for 3 months.  Spirit was declared "dead" in 2011.  Both rovers contributed beyond measure to our knowledge of the geologic record of Mars, including evidence that water once flowed on the surface.

The Curiosity and InSight landers continue their missions on the surface of Mars.  May they enjoy the longevity and success of their pioneering predecessors.

(Image:  Opportunity's tracks in the Martian surface; NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State)

Martian Panorama -- Curiosity's Journey So Far

From NASA: "A panoramic image that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took from a mountainside ridge provides a sweeping vista of key sites visited since the rover's 2012 landing, and the towering surroundings." You must watch this full screen:

Across The Universe, Cont. - Colliding Neutron Stars Produce Gamma Ray Bursts And Gravitational Waves

(click on image to enlarge)



From NASA, October 16, 2017: On August 17, 2017, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory detected gravitational waves from a neutron star collision. Within 12 hours, observatories had identified the source of the event within the galaxy NGC 4993, shown in this Hubble Space Telescope image, and located an associated stellar flare called a kilonova (box). Inset: Hubble observed the kilonova fade over the course of six days. Credits: NASA and ESA

The significance of this observation, briefly:

In August, for the first time ever, scientists witnessed the electromagnetic lightning and gravitational gusts from the stormy collision of two neutron stars in a distant galaxy. The cosmic cataclysm created a “kilonova” — a phenomenon that had never been seen before — and the observations by both traditional telescopes and gravitational wave detectors heralded a new era for science. In the years to come, astrophysicists will use two “messengers” to understand the universe: electromagnetism and gravity. 

The effort to capture the event's fleeting signals involved three gravitational wave detectors, more than five dozen telescopes on every continent including Antarctica, seven space-based observatories, and, according to one estimate, 15 percent of the world's astronomers. It yielded 20 scientific papers published in three separate journals and answered a broad array of questions about the cosmos: What happens when neutron stars collide? How are precious elements like gold produced? Where do some bursts of high-energy gamma rays originate? 

Those discoveries are just the beginning: “This is opening a new brand of research and science,” Eleonora Troja, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland, said Tuesday.

The article continues with a discussion of how this detection will change the course of astronomy.

More here from NASA (including more images of the neutron star collision).

Cassini: Countdown To Oblivion

It was a glorious ride.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft carrying ESA's Huygens probe was launched on October 15, 1997, and is arguably the most successful space exploration mission ever.  In just under three days from now, it will complete its decades- long mission by entering the atmosphere of Saturn and disintegrating, completing what NASA is calling "The Grand Finale." NASA describes the journey:

Beginning in 2010, Cassini began a seven-year mission extension in which it completed many moon flybys while observing seasonal changes on Saturn and Titan. The plan for this phase of the mission was to expend all of the spacecraft's propellant while exploring Saturn, ending with a plunge into the planet's atmosphere. In April 2017, Cassini was placed on an impact course that unfolded over five months of daring dives—a series of 22 orbits that each pass between the planet and its rings. Called the Grand Finale, this final phase of the mission has brought unparalleled observations of the planet and its rings from closer than ever before. 

On Sept. 15, 2017, the spacecraft will make its final approach to the giant planet Saturn. But this encounter will be like no other. This time, Cassini will dive into the planet's atmosphere, sending science data for as long as its small thrusters can keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed at Earth. Soon after, Cassini will burn up and disintegrate like a meteor. 

To its very end, Cassini is a mission of thrilling exploration. Launched on Oct. 15, 1997, the mission entered orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004 (PDT), carrying the European Huygens probe. After its four-year prime mission, Cassini's tour was extended twice. Its key discoveries have included the global ocean with indications of hydrothermal activity within Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on Titan. 

And although the spacecraft may be gone after the finale, its enormous collection of data about Saturn—the giant planet itself, its magnetosphere, rings and moons—will continue to yield new discoveries for decades.

It took Cassini 7 years to arrive at Saturn, where it then spent more than a decade touring the ringed planet and its intriguing moons.

Why does Cassini matter so much? Here are 9 ways.  It's enough to make one proud to be of the human species, and of the belief we can do "big things."  It's an achievement to be applauded and emulated.

Here's a video depiction from NASA on Cassini and its "Grand Finale:"

(Not So Far) Across The Universe

We break into our regular Republican/ Trump/ white supremacist bashing to bring you some news from the folks at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:



Only 39 light years away is basically a stone's throw in astronomical terms (but, the speed of light is the speed of light, and a year is a year - do the math).  Still, as Charles Pierce asks, "When can I reserve my ticket?"

Picture Of The Day - Hubble Bubble

(click on image to enlarge)



NASA's description: Sparkling at the center of this beautiful image is a star located about 30,000 light-years away. The distinctive blue bubble appearing to encircle the star is a nebula — an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other gases. The bubble — estimated to have formed around 20,000 years ago — is expanding at a rate of around 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) per hour! Details:http://go.nasa.gov/1QLO8Pj

Heavenly

From NASA (to get the best enlarged version of the portrait):
"This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. It was made by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic."

NASA Honors Colbert

While Stephen Colbert won't be getting Node 3 of the International Space Station named after him (artist's concept of the failed entry at left), NASA did announce it would name another piece of equipment after our favorite "pudnit." Well played by all!