European mission “Hera” starts to protect the earth

It was a direct hit. Am 26. September 2022 The operational life of a probe that the US space agency Nasa had designed specifically for this kamikaze mission ended: “Dart” was a double asteroid redirection test, an attempt to push an asteroid out of orbit.

Mission successful, patient dead: only pulverized remains of Dart remained somewhere on Dimorphos, the moon-like small companion of the larger asteroid Didymos. Both form a double asteroid system approximately eleven million kilometers from Earth.

The idea: The momentum transfer of the impact from the probe to the asteroid should throw it slightly off orbit. Such a procedure would be optimal if at some point such a piece of rock were headed towards the earth and threatened to impact.