CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A European spacecraft has begun close-up inspections of the asteroid that NASA deliberately crashed into four years ago in a test of planetary defense, The Associated Press reported.
The European Space Agency said Wednesday that its Hera spacecraft is now studying the asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos from 15 to 18 miles (25 to 30 kilometers) away.
NASA’s DART spacecraft, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, slammed into Dimorphos in 2022 to see whether such an impact could someday push a dangerous space rock away from Earth. The crash shortened the moonlet’s orbit around Didymos and nudged it onto a slightly different path around the sun.
Next month, Hera, which launched in 2024 and is about the size of a small car, will move to within about 12 miles (20 kilometers).
ESA officials consider the mission a “crash site investigation.” Hera carries 25 science instruments and two shoebox-sized CubeSats that will survey Dimorphos even more closely and attempt to land on it.
The DART impact sent rubble and boulders flying off Dimorphos, giving the moonlet an extra push, according to the AP.
Sources: KTAR News/AP. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: M. Nolan/Arecibo Observatory / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
