The scale of the SKA represents a huge leap forward in both engineering and research & development towards building and delivering a unique. With these missions, scientists are working to develop and hone the techniques that may one day be necessary to prevent a potentially catastrophic asteroid strike on Earth.Īfter all, being prepared is half the battle. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with eventually over a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area. Hera, like DART, is a mission supported by an international collaboration called the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment, or AIDA. And it will be another two years before ESA launches the Hera mission to the system, which will carry out a detailed post-impact analysis of the binary asteroid. It could take weeks before astronomers are able to verify whether DART’s impact changed the orbital period of Dimorphos around Didymos, as intended. Over the next three weeks, Hubble will continue to check in on Dimorphos 10 more times, monitoring how the ejecta clouds evolve and fade over time. Meanwhile, Hubble captured 45 images immediately before and after the collision. The James Webb Space Telescope observed DART’s collision with Dimorphos for a total of five hours, capturing 10 images. It’s also vital to understanding how large and tightly bound the agglomerated material within asteroids is - as that may change the odds of success of a collision-based asteroid avoidance plan. That’s not only valuable for understanding the true nature of asteroids. For instance, Webb and Hubble’s complementary coverage through multiple wavelengths will help reveal whether the collision threw off large chunks of rock and debris or primarily fine dust.
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