NASA Makes Final Preparations to Crash Spacecraft into Asteroid
2022-09-19
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1The American space agency NASA is making final preparations to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in the world's first planetary defense test.
2The mission is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART.
3The DART spacecraft launched on its trip to the asteroid last November.
4On September 26, it will aim to strike the asteroid to see how the crash affects the space object's path.
5The test is designed to demonstrate a possible method for changing the direction of asteroids considered threats to Earth.
6The mission's target will be an asteroid called Dimorphos, which is part of a two-body asteroid system.
7Dimorphos is a small "moonlet" that orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos.
8Didymos is about 780 meters across, while Dimorphos is 160 meters.
9The asteroid system does not present any danger to Earth.
10But NASA says it is being targeted as a more effective way to test the crash method instead of striking a single asteroid flying through space.
11The goal of the DART mission is to see how the spacecraft crash will re-direct the asteroid's path and speed.
12The crash will happen about 11 million kilometers from Earth.
13Currently, Dimorphos completes one orbit around Didymos every 11 hours and 55 minutes.
14The separation between the centers of the two asteroids is 1.18 kilometers.
15The DART spacecraft will aim to hit Dimorphos nearly head-on.
16When this happens, it will shorten the time it takes the small asteroid moonlet to orbit Didymos by several minutes, NASA explains.
17Telescopes on Earth will measure the change in the orbital period.
18NASA engineers have said they are hoping for a change of at least 73 seconds for the mission to be considered a success.
19Earlier this month, NASA announced the DART spacecraft had gotten its first look at the asteroid system.
20A series of images were taken July 27 by an imaging instrument on the spacecraft.
21The images showed light given off by the Didymos system.
22NASA said at the time the images were captured, the spacecraft was about 32 million kilometers away from the two asteroids.
23This made it difficult to see much of the Didymos system.
24But after the pictures were combined and examined, the team was able to improve the image quality and identify its location.
25Elena Adams is the DART mission systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.
26She said, "This first set of images is being used as a test to prove our imaging techniques."
27Adams added that the imaging instrument is what will guide the DART spacecraft to its asteroid target.
28In the final hours before the crash, the spacecraft will need to see and process images of the asteroid system as it travels by itself to the target without human involvement, NASA said.
29The DART operation will be captured in images taken by a CubeSat. CubeSats are small research spacecraft also known as nanosatellites.
30The 14-kilogram CubeSat that will capture the images is called LICIACube.
31It is a project of the Italian Space Agency.
32It was designed and built by the Italian space engineering company Argotec.
33LICIACube is set to be deployed from the spacecraft about 10 days before the crash.
34LICIACube is equipped with two separate cameras.
35They are designed to collect scientific data and inform the CubeSat's self-guiding system.
36The cameras will continually capture the asteroid crash as well as the resulting effects of the operation.
37Elisabetta Dotto is a member of the LICIACube scientific team at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome.
38She said in a statement that she and other scientists are "eager" to receive and examine the images captured by the CubeSat.
39"It will be so exciting to study, for the first time, the nature and structure of such weird objects as binary [near-Earth asteroids]."
40I'm Bryan Lynn.
1The American space agency NASA is making final preparations to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in the world's first planetary defense test. 2The mission is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART. The DART spacecraft launched on its trip to the asteroid last November. On September 26, it will aim to strike the asteroid to see how the crash affects the space object's path. 3The test is designed to demonstrate a possible method for changing the direction of asteroids considered threats to Earth. 4The mission's target will be an asteroid called Dimorphos, which is part of a two-body asteroid system. Dimorphos is a small "moonlet" that orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos. Didymos is about 780 meters across, while Dimorphos is 160 meters. 5The asteroid system does not present any danger to Earth. But NASA says it is being targeted as a more effective way to test the crash method instead of striking a single asteroid flying through space. 6The goal of the DART mission is to see how the spacecraft crash will re-direct the asteroid's path and speed. The crash will happen about 11 million kilometers from Earth. 7Currently, Dimorphos completes one orbit around Didymos every 11 hours and 55 minutes. The separation between the centers of the two asteroids is 1.18 kilometers. The DART spacecraft will aim to hit Dimorphos nearly head-on. When this happens, it will shorten the time it takes the small asteroid moonlet to orbit Didymos by several minutes, NASA explains. 8Telescopes on Earth will measure the change in the orbital period. 9NASA engineers have said they are hoping for a change of at least 73 seconds for the mission to be considered a success. 10Earlier this month, NASA announced the DART spacecraft had gotten its first look at the asteroid system. A series of images were taken July 27 by an imaging instrument on the spacecraft. The images showed light given off by the Didymos system. 11NASA said at the time the images were captured, the spacecraft was about 32 million kilometers away from the two asteroids. This made it difficult to see much of the Didymos system. But after the pictures were combined and examined, the team was able to improve the image quality and identify its location. 12Elena Adams is the DART mission systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. She said, "This first set of images is being used as a test to prove our imaging techniques." Adams added that the imaging instrument is what will guide the DART spacecraft to its asteroid target. 13In the final hours before the crash, the spacecraft will need to see and process images of the asteroid system as it travels by itself to the target without human involvement, NASA said. 14The DART operation will be captured in images taken by a CubeSat. CubeSats are small research spacecraft also known as nanosatellites. 15The 14-kilogram CubeSat that will capture the images is called LICIACube. It is a project of the Italian Space Agency. It was designed and built by the Italian space engineering company Argotec. LICIACube is set to be deployed from the spacecraft about 10 days before the crash. 16LICIACube is equipped with two separate cameras. They are designed to collect scientific data and inform the CubeSat's self-guiding system. The cameras will continually capture the asteroid crash as well as the resulting effects of the operation. 17Elisabetta Dotto is a member of the LICIACube scientific team at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome. She said in a statement that she and other scientists are "eager" to receive and examine the images captured by the CubeSat. "It will be so exciting to study, for the first time, the nature and structure of such weird objects as binary [near-Earth asteroids]." 18I'm Bryan Lynn. 19Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from NASA and The Associated Press. 20____________________________________________________ 21Words in This Story 22asteroid - n. a rocky object that goes around the sun like a planet 23mission - n. a flight by an aircraft or spacecraft to perform a specific task 24location - n. the place where something happens 25technique - n. a method 26eager - adj. wanting to do something very much 27weird - adj. very unusual or strange 28binary - adj. relating to two things 29________________________________________________________ 30We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: