TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — This afternoon, NASA targeted and crashed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft into an asteroid. It's a mission that's had ties to the University of Arizona from the beginning, from the discovery of the asteroid to research that will take place following the mission's conclusion.
"Working on this mission is very exciting. I've been working on near-Earth asteroid tracking for eight years, so being able to participate in the first planetary defense demonstration is a really great opportunity," said Melissa Brucker, who leads UArizona's Spacewatch.
The half-mile wide asteroid Dimorphos that was targeted posed no threat to Earth, but NASA scientists did determine that it was an ideal target to test new technology that could be used in the event of future asteroid threats.
Knowledge of this small celestial object, one half of a binary asteroid, can be traced back to the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory 1996.
Didymos, Dimorphos' twin, was spotted by a 36-inch telescope on Kitt Peak by Joseph Montani, a member of the university's Spacewatch group in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. The name means "twin" in Greek, a name that Montani suggested over the asteroid's original name, "1996 GT."
NASA's Sept. 26 DART mission made impact at approximately its scheduled time, around 7:14 p.m. ET.
Brucker is also on the science investigation team for DART. Following the conclusion of the DART mission, Spacewatch plans to collect data on the light reflected from the two asteroids after impact.
"We'll take a long series of images to measure the brightness of the system over time. Didymos and Dimorphos will look brighter when they're next to each other than when one is in front. In a series of images, we will be able to determine how long it takes Dimorphos to orbit Didymos," Brucker said.
NASA livestreamed the impact. As the DART spacecraft made its approach, the binary asteroids appeared initially as points of light, growing in detail up until the moment of impact. The craft made a pass by Didymos and the detailed terrain of Dimporphos continued to fill the screen until the signal cut to black.
A countdown during the stream was match by exclamations of "wow" and "oh my goodness" by mission team members watching on screen as the DART craft's camera displayed increasingly detailed images of the asteroid's terrain.
Upon impact and amid cheers and applause, NASA declared it a successful mission for "the world's first planetary defense test mission."
REWATCH the DART impact:
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Anne Simmons is the digital executive producer for KGUN 9. Anne got her start in television while still a student at the University of Arizona. Before joining KGUN, she managed multiple public access television stations in the Bay Area and has worked as a video producer in the non-profit sector. Share your story ideas and important issues with Anne by emailing anne.simmons@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.
