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A14 SCIENCE
Wednesday 28 september 2022
Bam! NASA spacecraft crashes into asteroid in defense test

By MARCIA DUNN Tom Statler.
AP Aerospace Writer Johns Hopkins scientist Car-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. olyn Ernst said the space-
(AP) — A NASA spacecraft craft was definitely "kaput,"
rammed an asteroid at blis- with remnants possibly in
tering speed Monday in an the fresh crater or cascad-
unprecedented dress re- ing into space with the as-
hearsal for the day a killer teroid's ejected material.
rock menaces Earth. Scientists insisted Dart would
The galactic slam occurred not shatter Dimorphos.
at a harmless asteroid 7 The spacecraft packed a
million miles (11.3 million ki- scant 1,260 pounds (570
lometers) away, with the kilograms), compared with
spacecraft named Dart the asteroid's 11 billion
plowing into the space pounds (5 billion kilograms).
rock at 14,000 mph (22,500 But that should be plenty to
kph). Scientists expected shrink its 11-hour, 55-minute
the impact to carve out a orbit around Didymos.
crater, hurl streams of rocks The impact should pare 10
and dirt into space and, minutes off that. The an-
most importantly, alter the In this image made from a NASA livestream, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft ticipated orbital shift of 1%
asteroid's orbit. crashes into an asteroid on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. might not sound like much,
"We have impact!" Mission Associated Press scientists noted. But they
Control's Elena Adams an- stressed it would amount to
nounced, jumping up and applause. "I think Earthlings Launched last November, morphos loomed larger a significant change over
down and thrusting her should sleep better. Defi- the vending machine-size and larger in the field of years.
arms skyward. nitely, I will." Dart — short for Double view alongside its bigger "Now is when the science
Telescopes around the NASA Administrator Bill Nel- Asteroid Redirection Test companion. Within min- starts," said NASA's Lori
world and in space aimed son reminded people ear- — navigated to its target utes, Dimorphos was alone Glaze, planetary science
at the same point in the sky lier in the day via Twitter using new technology de- in the pictures; it looked like division director. "Now
to capture the spectacle. that, "No, this is not a movie veloped by Johns Hopkins a giant gray lemon, but we're going to see for real
Though the impact was plot." He added in a pre- University's Applied Physics with boulders and rubble how effective we were."
immediately obvious — recorded video: "We've all Laboratory, the spacecraft on the surface. The last im- Planetary defense experts
Dart's radio signal abruptly seen it on movies like "Ar- builder and mission man- age froze on the screen as prefer nudging a threaten-
ceased — it will take as mageddon," but the real- ager. the radio transmission end- ing asteroid or comet out
long as a couple of months life stakes are high." Dart's on-board camera, a ed. of the way, given enough
to determine how much Monday's target: a 525- key part of this smart navi- Flight controllers cheered, lead time, rather than
the asteroid's path was foot (160-meter) asteroid gation system, caught sight hugged one another and blowing it up and creating
changed. named Dimorphos. It's a of Dimorphos barely an exchanged high fives. Their multiple pieces that could
The $325 million mission was moonlet of Didymos, Greek hour before impact. "Woo mission complete, the Dart rain down on Earth.
the first attempt to shift the for twin, a fast-spinning as- hoo!" exclaimed Adams, a team went straight into cel- Multiple impactors might
position of an asteroid or teroid five times bigger that mission systems engineer at ebration mode. There was be needed for big space
any other natural object in flung off the material that Johns Hopkins. little sorrow over the space- rocks or a combination of
space. formed the junior partner. With an image beaming craft's demise. impactors and so-called
"As far as we can tell, our The pair have been orbit- back to Earth every sec- "Normally, losing signal from gravity tractors, not-yet-in-
first planetary defense test ing the sun for eons without ond, Adams and other a spacecraft is a very bad vented devices that would
was a success," Adams threatening Earth, making ground controllers in Laurel, thing. But in this case, it was use their own gravity to
later told a news confer- them ideal save-the-world Maryland, watched with the ideal outcome," said pull an asteroid into a safer
ence, the room filling with test candidates. growing excitement as Di- NASA program scientist orbit.q

NASA moon rocket back in hangar,

launch unlikely until Nov.

AP Aerospace Writer grade the rocket and get it Once in space, the crew
NASA's moon rocket re- back to the pad for an Oc- capsule atop the rocket
turned to the safety of its tober launch attempt. Put- will aim for lunar orbit with
hangar Tuesday as Hurri- ting in fresh batteries is par- three test dummies, a cru-
cane Ian approached Flor- ticularly challenging, Free cial dress rehearsal before
ida, its launch now unlikely noted, making it doubtful a astronauts climb aboard in
before mid-November. launch could be attempt- 2024. The last time a capsule
Instead of trying to send ed before the mid-to-late flew to the moon was dur-
it on its first test flight, the October launch period ing NASA's Apollo 17 lunar
launch team moved the closes. The next two-week landing in 1972.SpaceX's
322-foot (98-meter) rocket window would open Nov. next astronaut flight to the
off the pad at Kennedy 12. International Space Station
The NASA moon rocket slated for the Artemis mission to the Space Center. The four- The Space Launch System for NASA, meanwhile, has
moon rolls back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Ken- mile (6.4-kilometer) trip rocket should have blasted been delayed at least one
nedy Space Center Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, took all night. off a month ago, but was day by the hurricane. Liftoff
Fla.
Associated Press NASA official Jim Free said delayed twice by fuel leaks is now no earlier than next
it would be difficult to up- and engine issues. Tuesday.q