Disconnecting a killer sasteroid is more complicated than the NASA idea

In 2022, NASA rammed a spaceship into an asteroid to see if it could handle her orbital period around his parents -Sasteroid. The mission, which was referred to as a double -sanceroid transfer test (dart), aimed at determining whether humanity could theoretically save itself from a catastrophic asteroid effects.

On September 26, 2022, Dart collided with Dimorphos, a small moon, which circles a larger asteroid called Didymos. Such a change would be more than enough to distract a dangerous asteroid from the earth, which points out that this strategy – the kinetic impactor technology – could save us if necessary. However, new research make this success more difficult. An examination of the ruin left behind suggests that this technology, when applied to the planetary defense, is not as easy as the scientists initially thought.

“We succeeded in distracting an asteroid and moving it out of his orbit” opinion. “Our research shows that the direct effects of the dart room vehicle caused this change, but the outer boulders gave an additional kick that was almost as large. This additional factor changes the physics that we have to take into account when planning this kind of missions.” Farnham and his colleagues published their findings in The Planetary Science Journal on July 4th.

Dimorphos is a “rubble heap” -seaside, a loose conglomerate made of material such as stones, pebbles and boulders, which are held together by gravity. This study only applies to this type of asteroid. If Darts had collided with a coherent, firmer body, the effects of these bizarre effects would not have produced. Nevertheless, there are many other rubble piles in the galaxy. It is important to understand how you react to the kinetic impactor technology.

The researchers analyzed pictures by Liciacube, an Italian space agency satellite that was mounted on the darts. About two weeks before the impact, Liciacube separated And began to follow about three minutes behind the spaceship, so that the satellite could radiate pictures of the collision and its effects on earth. In addition to observing the crater pillar, which was hit in the surface of Dimorphos, Liciacube recorded the Ejecta cloud or the debris cloud outed by the asteroid, when Dart hit him.

These pictures made it possible for Farnham and his colleagues to track 104 boulders from 1.3 to 23.6 to 7.2 meters. The rocks shot away from the asteroid at a speed of up to 116 miles per hour (187 kilometers per hour). Oddly enough, the distribution of these outcast rubble was not accidental and opposed the researchers’ expectations.

“We saw that the boulders were not randomly distributed in space,” said Farnham. “Instead, they were summarized in two rather different groups with a lack of material elsewhere, which means that something unknown here works here.”

The larger of the two clusters, which contained 70% of the ruins, shot away from the asteroid with high speeds and flat angles. The researchers believe that these objects came from a certain source on dimorphos – maybe two large boulders called Atabaque and Bodhran, which were shattered when daring solar collectors hit them shortly in front of the main body of the spacecraft.

If the team compared this result with that of the deep impact (epoxi) mission of NASA, which beaten A probe in a comet to examine its interior structure made the distribution of the debris more sensible. While a deep impact hit a surface consisting of very small, even particles, darts hit a rocky surface that was packed with large boulders. This “led to chaotic and filamentary structures in his ejecta patterns”, Co -author Jessica Sunshine, professor of astronomy and geology at the University of Maryland, which in the explanation acted as a main underground.

“The comparison of these two missions gives us this insight into the reaction of different types of sky bodies on effects, which is crucial that a planetary defense mission is successful,” she said.

The 104 outcast boulders carried a total kinetic energy that corresponded to 1.4% of the energy of the darts room vehicle, and 96% of these energy were directed to the south, which “significant impulse contributions that were not taken into account in the measurements of the orbital period” indicate the researchers in their report. The power of ruins, which is removed from Dimorphos on darts, would have inclined to the asteroid’s orbital level by up to one degree, which may lead to the fact that it falls irregularly in space.

“A complete accounting of the impulse in all directions and the understanding of the role played by surface blocks conveys better knowledge of how the special features of the effects could change – either a reduction or improvement – the effects of a kinetic impactor,” the researchers write.

Have astronomers cataloged About 2,500 potentially dangerous asteroids in our corner of the galaxy. These are space rocks that are alarmingly close to the earth and are large enough to cause considerable damage to impact. While there is currently no risk that one of these asteroids will meet our planet within the next century, one day it could show a life -saving strategies to prevent such a disaster. The success of the darts mission suggests that NASA is on the right track, but this new study shows that we can still learn a lot about the effects of the kinetic impactor technology.