NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft recently acquired its first image of Didymos, the double-asteroid system that includes its target, Dimorphos. DART will intentionally smash into Dimorphos, the asteroid moonlet of Didymos, on September 26. Although the asteroid poses no thre
This image of the light from asteroid Didymos and its orbiting moonlet Dimorphos is a composite of 243 images taken by the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation aboard DART on July 27, 2022.
This image of the light from asteroid Didymos and its orbiting moonlet Dimorphos is a composite of 243 images taken by the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation aboard DART on July 27, 2022. Credit: NASA JPL DART Navigation Team A number of navigation simulations using non-DRACO images of Didymos have already been conducted by the team. However, DART will ultimately depend on its ability to see and process images of Didymos and Dimorphos, once it too can be seen, to guide the spacecraft toward the asteroid, especially in the final four hours before impact. At that point, DART will need to autonomously self-navigate to impact successfully with Dimorphos without any human intervention.
Using observations taken every five hours, the DART team will execute three trajectory correction maneuvers over the next three weeks. Each of these will further reduce the margin of error for the spacecraft’s required trajectory to impact. After the final maneuver on September 25, approximately 24 hours before impact, the navigation team will know the position of the target Dimorphos within 2 kilometers .
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