Two weeks after its launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft came to life in space. The probe returned initial images of space as it drove to the asteroid Dimorphos to demonstrate a new planetary defense system.
The acquisition of the first image and the successful dispatch to Earth is an important milestone for the spacecraft, which indicates the nominal status of the mission. DART is the world’s first planetary defense test mission that intentionally introduces a kinetic impact into the Dimorphos to easily change its movement in space.
The successful operation of his camera shows that the mission survived the violent vibrations of the launch and the extreme temperature shift to -80 degrees Celsius in space. “Since components of the spacecraft’s telescopic instrument are sensitive to movements of only five millionths of a meter, even a tiny displacement of something in the instrument can be very serious,” said NASA.
OPENING THE EYES IN THE SPACE
On December 7th, the space probe opened the round door that covered the opening of its DRACO telescope camera, scanned the vacuum of space and sent back the first images of its surroundings. The space probe was already 32,18,688 kilometers from its home planet.
Didymo’s Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation (DRACO) is a high-resolution camera inspired by the imager of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft that provided the first close-up images of the Pluto system and a Kuiper belt object.
DART’s DRACO camera captured and returned this image of the stars in Messier 38 or the starfish cluster about 4,200 light years away. (Photo: NASA)
The mission was 11 light seconds from Earth when it captured the images of space, which means it would take a command sent to the probe about 11 seconds to reach it. This duration will increase the closer it gets to its goal. In comparison, it takes between 5 and 20 minutes for signals from Earth to reach Mars.
The images show a dozen stars, crystal clear and sharp against the black background of space, near the intersection of the constellations Perseus, Aries and Taurus. The mission used the stars in the picture to pinpoint exactly how DRACO was oriented and provided the first measurements from how the camera is oriented relative to the spacecraft.
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“With these measurements in hand, the DART team could move the spacecraft precisely so that DRACO would be aimed at objects of interest like Messier 38 (M38), also known as the Starfish Cluster, which DART captured in another image on December 10th has “said Nasa said.
WHAT IS DART MISSION?
The double asteroid diversion test or the darts mission, is the demonstration of kinetic impactor technology that hits an asteroid to adjust its speed and path. DART will be the first space mission to demonstrate the deflection of an asteroid by a kinetic impactor.
The spacecraft will travel the vastness of the universe for almost a year before reaching its destination, the binary asteroid system Didymos. The spacecraft will hit the asteroid at a speed of about 24,000 kilometers per hour.
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