DART will impact an asteroid on September 26

Artist’s concept of NASA’s DART spacecraft and the Italian Space Agency’s LICIACube prior to impact at the Didymos binary system. Image via NASA/ Johns Hopkins APL/ Steve Gribben.

DART draws closer to its target

DART – the Double Asteroid Redirect Test – is zeroing in on its target. The first mission to impact and move an asteroid is just days away from its goal. The impact will happen at 7:15 p.m. EDT (23:15 UTC) on September 26, 2022. Earlier this month, NASA reported that DART had its first look at its target, the asteroid system Didymos and its moon Dimorphos (or Didymos b), back in July. The LICIACube, which will witness the impact, successfully separated from DART on September 11.

DART is the first real test of our ability to defend Earth from an asteroid on a collision course with our world. For this test, DART is targeting Dimorphos, a little moonlet that’s just 525 feet (160 m) in diameter. NASA hopes the nudge from DART will push it slightly from its regular orbit. This test will show if we’re ready to take on any threatening asteroids that could be headed our way.

View larger. | DART got its 1st look at the asteroid Didymos back in July 2022. The mission is on target to impact Didymos’s moonlet Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. Image via NASA/ JPL/ DART Navigation Team.

How to watch the impact

If you want to watch the event live, coverage begins at 6 p.m. EDT (22 UTC) on September 26, 2022, on NASA’s website. You can also watch it via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

We've got a date with that dot. Using ground telescopes, the #DARTMission confirmed the orbit of asteroid Didymos.

DART is scheduled to impact Didymos' moonlet Dimorphos on Sept. 26. The asteroids and this test of planetary defense pose no risk to Earth: https://t.co/DLy1DZwyzS pic.twitter.com/qeCon6f5Fg

— NASA (@NASA) August 26, 2022

The DART mission is only a test

Didymos B poses no threat to Earth. This little moonlet and its parent asteroid orbit the sun in an elliptical path that brings them close to Earth and then out past the orbit of Mars. Didymos B is the size of a typical asteroid that might threaten Earth. If DART is successful, it will be the world’s first test of technology to defend Earth against threats of an asteroid on a collision path with our world. As NASA said:

This test will show a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it to change the asteroid’s motion in a way that can be measured using ground-based telescopes. DART will provide important data to help better prepare for an asteroid that might pose an impact hazard to Earth, should one ever be discovered.

When the impact occurs, Italy’s LICIACube will be watching. The LICIACube – or the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids – is part of the DART mission and will separate about 10 days before impact. The little spacecraft will be studying the impact plume, measuring the impact site and observing the non-impacted hemisphere as well.

You can learn much more about the DART mission, Didymos B, and any meteors that might result from the impact here.

Bottom line: The DART mission to impact and move an asteroid for the first time will occur on September 26, 2022, at 7:14 p.m. EDT.

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