{"id":30633,"date":"2022-12-14T16:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/?p=30633"},"modified":"2022-12-14T18:36:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T18:36:58","slug":"deflection-of-a-near-earth-asteroid-by-dart-is-the-physics-world-2022-breakthrough-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/2022\/12\/14\/deflection-of-a-near-earth-asteroid-by-dart-is-the-physics-world-2022-breakthrough-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Deflection of a near-Earth asteroid by DART is the Physics World 2022 Breakthrough of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Physics World <\/em>2022 Breakthrough of the Year goes to NASA <\/span>and a team led by the <\/span>Johns Hopkins<\/span> <\/span>Applied Physics Laboratory in the US<\/span> <\/span>for <\/span>the first demonstration<\/span><\/a> of \u201ckinetic impact\u201d by successfully changing the orbit of an asteroid. This was done using the <\/span>Double Asteroid Redirection Test<\/span> (DART) spacecraft, which was launched in November 2021 and impacted its target asteroid in October 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"DART-mission\"
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On target: illustration of the moment before DART struck Dimorphos. (Courtesy: NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pioneering work done by the DART team could, sometime in the future, help save us from the catastrophic consequences of an asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth. We know that asteroids have struck Earth in the past with deadly effect and it could very well happen again. Indeed, planetary scientists know of more than 2000 potentially hazardous near Earth objects (NEOs) that could threaten Earth.<\/p>\n

It is to deal with the humanity-ending consequences of future impacts that NASA and other space agencies have been developing ways to deflect NEOs that might otherwise strike our planet. Launched in November 2021,<\/span><\/a> DART <\/span>was the first mission to investigate whether we could do this by crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid, thereby changing its motion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Its target was a binary NEO system consisting of a 160-metre-diameter body called Dimorphos, which orbits a larger 780-metre-diameter asteroid called Didymos. Dimorphos is significant because it is larger than 140 m in diameter, with scientists believing that an NEO of this size would wreak destruction on a regional scale if it struck land, or create a dangerous tsunami if it fell into the ocean.   <\/span><\/p>\n

Following an 11-million-kilometre journey to the asteroid system, the 570 kg spacecraft successfully impacted Dimorphos on 26 September<\/a> while travelling at about 6 km\/s. NASA later <\/span>confirmed<\/span> that DART had shortened Dimorphos\u2019 orbit around Didymos from 11 hours and 55 minutes to 11 hours and 23 minutes. <\/span>This change was some 25 times greater than the 73 seconds that NASA had defined as a minimum successful orbit period change. The impact is now being analysed to work out the best way using the kinetic impact technique for defending Earth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tough decision<\/h2>\n

In choosing the Physics World<\/em> Breakthrough of the Year for 2022, one of the toughest decisions we had to make related to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The deployment of the telescope was a huge achievement, and its first images were stunning. Nevertheless, we stopped short of awarding our top prize to the JWST because we firmly believe that for this amazing instrument, the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n

Sure, simple Newtonian mechanics makes it clear that nudging an asteroid out of its orbit is perfectly possible in principle. But the fact that DART succeeded beyond the team\u2019s expectations was an audacious feat and a technological wonder<\/span>, making DART a worthy winner, we felt, for the Breakthrough of the Year in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

As anyone who has read about the fate of the dinosaurs will know \u2013 or who has watched the Hollywood movie Don\u2019t Look Up<\/em><\/a> \u2013 an asteroid striking our planet could be cataclysmic. So congratulations to those involved in the mission \u2013 and indeed to all those teams whose work appears in the Physics World<\/em> Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2022.
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The Physics World <\/em>2022 Breakthrough of the Year was selected <\/span> by a panel of Physics World<\/em> editors, who sifted through hundreds of research updates and news stories published on the website this year across all fields of physics. In addition to having been reported in Physics World<\/em> in 2022, the winner must meet the following criteria:<\/p>\n