Asteroid saga continues: Mission to probe 'crime scene' on Dimorphos ready for blast off
Dimorphos and Didymos
Asteroids have become the biggest topic of interest to astronomers it seems. After hitting one in 2022 to test humanity's power against the space rocks, if one threatens us ever, scientists are now sending a probe to learn more about what happened to the asteroid.
Under the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, a spacecraft smashed into asteroid Dimorphos which was roughly 11 million kilometres (6.8 million miles) from Earth.
The impact successfully moved the asteroid out of its course, even though it did not pose any threat to us. The mission was to know if humans can defend Earth if a space rock someday gets on a collision course with us.
Dimorphos wasn't exactly an asteroid, but instead, a moonlet that orbits Didymos, a bigger space rock.
The DART mission was termed successful, although a lot about the asteroid remains unknown. With the aim to understand what exactly happened by Dimorphos, the European Space Agency is sending Hera to conduct a "crime scene investigation".
It is due to blast off on Monday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Monday. However, a delay might happen after the rocket suffered an anomaly during the launch of SpaceX's Crew-9 astronaut mission on Saturday.
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After being launched, the window for which remains open till Oct 27, Hera will fly past Mars next year before arriving near Dimorphos in December 2026. It will carry out a six-month investigation into the space rock.
What is Dimorphos?
After the DART impact, Dimorphos underwent significant changes. It shed a lot of material and its orbit around Didymos shortened by 33 minutes. This was proof that the mission successfully deflected it.
Hera mission's principal investigator Patrick Michel says that Dimorphos is likely to be a loose pile of rubble held together by gravity. This means that it did not create a crater on it, but instead deformed it completely.
Not only did its shape change, but it also likely created a man-made meteor shower. Another study found that the debris can reach Earth in another 10 years, besides also hitting Mars.
The mission costs $400 million, and is equipped with 12 scientific instruments and two nanosatellites. The plan is to land Juventas nanosatellite on Dimorphos, a first on such a small asteroid. It will use radar to look deep into it and measure its gravity.
The Milani nanosatellite will stay far away and use cameras and other instruments to study the asteroid's composition and assess DART's impact. Later, Hera should land gently on Dimorphos or Didymos and live out its final days.
