Mumbai, September 2: The rock debris created after the 2022 Double Asteroids Redirect Test (DART) Mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) could cause the first ever human-made meteor shower. Studies reveal that the crash that produced over 2 million pounds of rock debris and dust were fragments of the moonlet Dimorphos and could start landing on the atmospheres of Earth and Mars in the coming 10-30 years as meteor showers. The vast amount of debris could lead to a continuous meteor shower for up to 100 years.

The DART mission made an intentional collision with Dimorphos - a moonlet that orbited the asteroid Didymos - September 26, 2022. This collision was designed to study and test NASA's asteroid deflection technology, a technique to divert the trajectory of incoming asteroids that could potentially collide with Earth and cause damage. The debris generated from this collision is too small to cause any threat or damage to the Earth's surface, as almost all of them would perish while passing through the Earth's oxidising atmosphere. NASA-SpaceX Crew-7 Mission Launch: Four Astronauts Set to Reach ISS via Falcon Heavy Rocket on August 25, Check Names.

DART Mission Collision with Dimorphus 

What Does NASA Data on DART Mission Reveal?

Eloy Peña Asensio, a researcher at Italy’s Politecnico di Milano, told CNN in an interview that the data for the debris was collected from a small satellite installed in the DART spacecraft before its impact with Dimorphos. "This material could produce visible meteors (commonly called shooting stars) as they penetrate the Martian atmosphere. Once the first particles reach Mars or Earth, they could continue to arrive intermittently and periodically for at least the next 100 years, which is the duration of our calculations," said Asensio. ISRO Announces Success in Final Test of ‘Pushpak’ Reusable Launch Vehicle Landing Experiment.

Furthermore, Asensio highlighted the importance of data on debris generated in the space test. Scientists used the data to generate simulations of another 3 million particles that DART's collision created while considering the gravitational factor of the Didymos-Dimorphos system and the impact of bodies such as the sun and other planets on it. These calculations help learn the trajectories of the debris produced and when they could potentially impact Earth. The scientists also deduced the speed of this debris from the data. Reportedly, some larger pieces of debris, travelling at 1,118 miles per hour, could reach Mars, while the smaller ones, travelling at 3,579 miles per hour, could reach Earth in around 10 years.

However, none of the debris would pose a risk to Earth, he said. “They would disintegrate in the upper atmosphere through a process known as ablation, caused by friction with the air at hypervelocity. There is no possibility of a Dimorphos material reaching Earth’s surface,” Asensio said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 02, 2024 12:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).