Space Stories: DART Did Its Diversionary Duty, A New Moon Crater, and A New Private Space Telescope

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Image (Credit): The collision of DART with Dimorphos, as captured by the Italian Space Agency’s LICIACube. The larger asteroid above is Didymos. (ASI/NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Nautilus: “NASA’s DART Mission Offers Proof of Protection Against Asteroid Impacts“

In November 2021, NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) aimed at finding out whether or not we could redirect the trajectory of a near-Earth object simply by crashing into it…The mission was a success, making it the first time a human-made object has altered a celestial body’s path around the sun, but it would take more time to find out the magnitude of the success. Now, two years later, NASA scientists have calculated that DART’s collision with Dimorphos shortened the orbit of both asteroids by around 33 minutes.

—SciTechDaily: “The Moon Was Hit Again: NASA Scientists Discover a Newly Formed Crater“

Researchers working with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera found one such crater by comparing detailed photographs of the same lunar locations taken at different times. By examining images captured before December 2009 and others taken after December 2012, they were able to narrow down when the impact occurred, even though no one actually observed the collision. The crater measures 22 meters in diameter, comparable to a large house. What makes it particularly striking is not its size but its brightness. The collision ejected material tens of meters from the crater rim, creating distinctive rays that spread outward in a sunburst pattern. This bright, fresh material contrasts sharply with the surrounding darker regolith, making the crater stand out like a new freckle on familiar skin.

—Daily Galaxy: “In a First, Private Investors Will Fund a Telescope Bigger Than Hubble for $500 Million“

A new private space observatory, the Lazuli Space Telescope, is on track to surpass Hubble with its larger mirror and cutting-edge technology. Funded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy, the project is already turning heads in the space community…At its core, Lazuli’s three-meter mirror will make it one of the largest space telescopes ever built, capable of observing both optical and infrared light.

Good News: Hurricane Milton Had Little Impact on NASA Facilities

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Image (Credit): View of the Kennedy Space Center following Hurricane Milton. (NASA)

NASA has reported that it has so far detected little damage from Hurricane Milton at the Kennedy Space Center.

Here is what NASA shared today via Twitter/X:

Kennedy is now OPEN!

The Damage Assessment and Recovery Team has completed their assessment of the center and its facilities, and determined that employees can safely return on-site to resume working.

The damage identified is manageable and in-line with the items the Ride Out Teams previously identified, including minor impacts such as ripped awning, and damage to doors and traffic lights.

It is interesting that NASA is using DART in a whole way here compared to yesterday’s story about the European Space Agency’s Hera mission. I just hope that the DART mission never leads to a DART event here on Earth.

Pic of the Week: The Launch of Hera

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Visitors at ESA’s control center in Germany watching the Hera launch. (ESA / J.Mai)

This week’s image shows a crowd in Germany watching the launch of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera mission on October 7, 2024. The launch itself took place from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida via a SpaceX Falcon 9.

Hera’s goal is to study how binary asteroid systems like Didymos form and function to learn more about to defend the Earth from approaching asteroids. You may remember Didymos from the earlier NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission.

Here is more from the ESA on the mission:

Hera’s first deep space manoeuvre will begin in late October and put the spacecraft on course for its next major milestone, a flyby of Mars in March 2025. During this flyby, Hera will use its instruments to study Deimos, the smaller and more enigmatic of Mars’s two moons. This will serve as an important test for many of the spacecraft’s instruments, ensuring they are fully operational before the spacecraft arrives at its final destination, Didymos.

Hera will perform a second deep space manoeuvre in February 2026. An ‘impulsive rendezvous’ in October 2026 will bring Hera into the vicinity of the Didymos asteroid system. The spacecraft will begin its detailed survey of the moonlet Dimorphos in 2027, which will turn the 151 m asteroid into one of the most studied objects in the Solar System.

Oops – Sorry About That, Mars

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Image (Credit): Illustration of how DART’s impact altered the orbit of Dimorphos about Didymos. (https://dart.jhuapl.edu/)

You may remember how NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was a great success in that it demonstrated that we can divert an asteroid, should it be necessary.

Well, that’s not the whole story. A new study has found that the redirected asteroid debris may threaten Mars in the future. How far into the future? In one case, it will be 6,000 years into the future, and the second about 15,000 years into the future.

It would be nice to think that we will have habitats if not cities on Mars at that point (and maybe even a Musk Mountain looming over one of the cities), so this could be relevant. So maybe today’s practice run will be tomorrow’s disaster. Then again, I am pretty sure that such a future society will also have the ability to deflect these asteroids, possible building on what we learned from DART.

All of this does make you think about other areas where our tampering may come back to bite us.

Space Stories: DART Damage, India Plans for Orbiting Crew, and SLIM Awakes on the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Illustration of how DART’s impact altered the orbit of Dimorphos about Didymos. (https://dart.jhuapl.edu/)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—NDTV: “NASA’s Mission Not Only Altered Asteroid’s Path, But Its Shape Too, Says New Study“

A recent study suggests NASA’s DART mission, designed to test asteroid deflection methods, may have revealed more than planned. While successfully altering the target asteroid’s trajectory, scientists now believe the impact also significantly changed its shape, hinting at a surprising composition. Previously thought to be a solid rock, Dimorphos, the impacted asteroid, may actually be a loose collection of debris. This conclusion stems from the unexpected level of deformation observed after the collision. Unlike a typical crater, the impact appears to have caused a broader, flatter dent, resembling an M&M candy.

—Reuters: “India Announces Four-member Crew for ‘Gaganyaan’ Space Mission“

India on Tuesday introduced four crew members for its maiden ‘Gaganyaan’ space voyage, as it aims to become the world’s fourth country to send a crewed mission into space just months after a historic landing on the south pole of the moon. Gaganyaan, or “sky craft” in Hindi, is the first mission of its kind for India and will cost about 90.23 billion rupees ($1.1 billion). It involves the launch of a habitable space capsule over the next year to an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) and its return via a landing in the Indian Ocean.

—SpaceNews.com: “Japan’s SLIM Moon Lander Stages Unexpected Revival After Lunar Night“

Japan’s space agency made contact with its SLIM moon lander Sunday, despite the spacecraft not being expected to function after lunar night. Contact with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft was reestablished on Sunday, Feb. 25, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced via its dedicated SLIM account on X, formerly known as Twitter, early Feb. 26.