The use of the DART probe is a variant of the so-called soft power, noted astronomer Leonid EleninMOSCOW, September 23.
/tass/. The methods of changing the orbit of asteroids dangerous to the Earth, which NASA plans to work out on September 26, may not have an effect for objects that are too close to our planet - several months or even years before the moment of collision with it. This opinion was expressed to TASS on Friday by astronomer Leonid Elenin, a researcher at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In August, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced the launch on September 26 of the American DART probe (Double Asteroid Redirection Test - "Experiment to change the orbit of a double asteroid"), which should collide with an asteroid to test the Earth's protection system from potentially dangerous space objects. The expected time of the collision is 19:14, US East Coast time (02:14 on September 27, Moscow Time).
"We need to understand that the impact will be quite weak. This is a variant of the so-called soft power, when we have time to carefully and slowly change the orbit of a dangerous body. But if there are months or even several years before the collision, such a method will most likely not help," the scientist said.
The Russian astronomer also recalled that similar work had already been carried out as part of the Deep Impact mission, when a 370-kilogram probe was dropped on comet Tempel-1 (9P/Tempel 1) to produce an explosion on its surface, which would help to better study the structure of the celestial body. The researchers then gained experience in organizing the collision of a kinetic impactor with a comet, Elenin said.
In November 2021, Elenin discovered an asteroid approaching the Earth, which was assigned the provisional designation 2021 UL17. He became the 14th such object on the scientist's account. In August 2022, a science fiction book by Elenin called "Bortl's Limit" was published, which describes the approach to Earth of a comet that is deadly for humanity.
The DART probe was launched last November from the US Space Force base Vandenberg in California using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle from SpaceX. After the spacewalk, the probe separated from the Falcon 9 and flew in the direction of the Didymus-Dimorph double asteroid, which, like the Earth, orbits the Sun. It is expected that the device will collide with the smaller of them - a Dimorph - at a speed of about 24 thousand km/ h.
As a result of the impact of the spacecraft, the orbit of the Dimorph, which rotates around a larger Didymus with a length of 760 m, will have to deviate "by a fraction of a percent". Scientists expect that this will be enough for them to be able to record the deviation using telescopes from Earth. The purpose of the experiment is to work out a technique by which, in the future, in the event of the appearance of asteroids that are really dangerous to the planet, specialists could change the trajectory of their movement.
In 2016, NASA created the Office for the Coordination of Measures to Protect the Earth from Asteroids. Within the framework of this program, asteroids and comets that could threaten the Earth are being searched in near-Earth space within 48 million km from Earth, data is being collected on their sizes, orbits and chemical composition, as well as an analysis of the possible consequences of their fall to Earth.
