The spacecraft named Double Asteroid Orientation Test (DART) of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) successfully crashed into the asteroid, which is about 11 million kilometers from the earth, on the night of September 27, as planned. NASA released the first detailed images of this “planetary defense test”.
In NASA’s live broadcast on September 27, DART, launched into space to test the world’s defense technology against potential asteroid or comet dangers, successfully crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos, which poses no threat to the world, just in time.
James Webb and the Hubble Space Telescopes took photos showing the impact of the impact on the moon Dimorphos of the asteroid Didymos.
Photographs of the $325 million DART mission were combined into a two-color time-lapse animation showing the spacecraft’s approach and subsequent brilliance at the moment of impact.
“Webb and Hubble show what we at NASA have always known to be true: We learn more when we work together,” said Bill Nelson, NASA President and former astronaut.
Nelson also added, “For the first time, Webb and Hubble have captured images simultaneously from the same target in the cosmos. All of humanity looks forward to discoveries regarding the DART mission and beyond.” said.
SUCCESSFULLY CLICKED
The DART spacecraft pushed a small piece (about 170 meters in diameter) called Dimorphos of the double asteroid, which it was locked in an autonomous position, to deflect it from its orbit at about 23,000 kilometers per hour.
The experimental collision, which was carried out for the first time to measure and prevent celestial objects that may pose a potential threat in the future, was also recorded by the Hubble, Webb and Lucy telescopes with the camera placed on DART, while those who watched the collision live watched the images with a delay of approximately 45 seconds.
“This was humanity’s first attempt to change the course of a celestial body,” the NASA official said in a live broadcast after the planned collision, led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, which developed DART. Expressions of joy were heard.
The successful trial proved that a spacecraft can collide with a deliberately targeted asteroid to alter its trajectory in a way that can be measured using ground-based telescopes.
*The visuals of the news were served by the Associated Press.