After the successful impact of NASA ’s DART military mission on the Dimorphos asteroid , scientists have encountered a series of unexpected outcomes , the latest being the unforeseen lengthening of the asteroid ’s orbital flow around its larger partner , Didymos .
In September of last class , NASA ’s $ 308 million flit ( Double Asteroid Redirection Test ) missiondeliberately collide with the Dimorphos asteroid . This fridge - sized ballistic capsule bear on the 525 - foot - wide ( 160 - meter - wide ) asteroid at speed of up to 14,000 miles per hour ( 22,500 kilometers per time of day ) , aiming to change its orbital course around its large partner , Didymos . The binary couple is situated 7 million miles ( 11 million kilometers ) from Earth and does n’t place a menace to Earth — either before or after the redirection test .
The mission was a resounding succeeder ; the impact altered Dimorphos ’s orbital period around Didymos by over half an hour , shifting its position by tens of measure . This achievement was far beyond the DART squad ’s goal of 72 seconds , scar the kickoff of several unexpected final result . The experimentation hint at thepotential of using energising impactors to airt dangerous asteroids , but the legion doubt arising from the DART missionary post suggest there ’s much more for us to read first .
The Dimorphos asteroid, now surrounded by nearly 40 space boulders.Image: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA)
During the impact with Dimorphos , a powerful recoil effect was observed . Dimorphos , believed to be a rubble pile asteroid made up of loosely get in touch rocks , pebble , and detritus , released a immense amount of material , known as ejecta , into space upon impingement . Speaking to Gizmodo in the first place this twelvemonth , DART investigating squad chair Andy Chengdescribedthis effect as similar to a small Eruca vesicaria sativa railway locomotive , explaining that it ’s “ kind of like a piffling rocket engine — you have a kick , a reaction force from throw off all the cloth . ” This chemical reaction significantly enhanced the force of the impact . In fact , the button was almost four times more stiff than if the spacecraft had collide with an asteroid without any ejecta production , making the deflection much more effective than anticipate , Cheng explain .
The 2d unexpected outcome from the DART experiment was thecreation of a “ boulder cloud ” around Dimorphos . The impact discard approximately two million British pound of dusty careen into space — enough to fill six or seven railway line cars . Using the Hubble Space Telescope , astronomer identified nearly 40 boulders in close law of proximity to Dimorphos . While these bowlder do n’t amaze a scourge to Earth , their presence suggests that parry a truly risky asteroid could result in potentially grievous boulders heading toward our satellite .
The third unexpected determination was latterly present at an American Astronomical Society encounter , conducted by researchers from the Thacher School and the University of California at Berkeley . Using the 0.7 - m Thatcher Observatory in Ventura County , California , the team assess Dimorphos ’s orbital full stop 20 to 30 day place - impact . They discovered its orbital period had extended by some one minute , leave in a 34 - bit rotary motion around Didymos , up from the initial 33 minutes .
This was surprising , as the impingement was bear to castrate the orbital period , implying that Dimorphos has been slowing down since impact sidereal day . The scientists are perplexed by this watching . In their arXiv preprint , theywrite :
We find that no mechanism antecedently presented for this system can account for this large of a geological period alteration , and drag from shock ejecta is an unbelievable account . Further observations of the ( 65803 ) Didymos organisation are need to both substantiate our resultant and to further understand this system post wallop .
One theory suggests that the apace forming and evolving monumental rubble cloud , which is developing into glob , spirals , and other structures , might be bear upon Dimorphos ’s trajectory . However , the authors of the late study are not convinced that this phenomenon is the root cause of the prolonged orbital period .
Before the DART mission , Dimorphos ’s orbital time period was already undergo tiresome changes . Still , the observed dispute ca n’t be explained by several known mechanisms , according to the researchers . These let in thebinary YORP effect(a force from sunlight that changes the spin of two orbiting bodies),mutual tides(gravitational influence between objects),differential Yarkovsky force(a push due to sunshine preoccupancy and heat discharge ) , or the result of the sudden departure of surface mass .
Further observations and insights from more scientists are clearly need on the matter . An important contribution to this inquiry will come from the forthcoming Hera mission . The European Space Agency ( ESA ) is coif to set in motion the Hera investigation in October 2024 , and it ’s intend to closely study the Didymos - Dimorphos binary system and dig deeper into the results of the DART experiment . Including those unearthly and unexpected ones .
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