Mission “Planetary Defense” Arrow NASA ends the night of Monday, September 26th, to Tuesday at 02:14 GST with the mission vehicle crashing in front of a small asteroid. The rover, which was launched eleven months ago, arrived at the asteroid Gemini, which has a diameter of 800 meters and is located about 11 million kilometers from Earth. A space rock with a diameter of 160 meters, Demorphos, orbits Didymos, and thus serves as its satellite.
The vehicle will crash at Demorphos at 24,000 km/h with the goal of diverting it slightly from its course. According to calculations by NASA scientists, the collision will alter the orbital motion of Demorphos and orbit Gemini at least 73 seconds faster. NASA will broadcast the lander’s landing on the asteroid live.
Several ground-based telescopes have pointed their instruments at Dimorphos to record the collision. It has launched a small Italian spacecraft LICIACube which has already approached Dimorphos at a distance of 55 kilometers and its cameras will image “meteors” from the collision. The European Space Agency plans to launch a mission in 2024 that will travel to Gemini and Demorphos to record the effects of today’s collision, the crater that will be created in the space rock and its new orbit.
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