It’s about 10 months since DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) he left our planet and set out on a path to destroy it. And so it is that, unlike the rest of the space missions to date, in which the structural integrity of the vehicle or space object has been a key element, this time success will be measured in part by DART’s ability to collide with Dimorphos.

In case you’re not familiar with the mission, as the name suggests his job is to try to “redirect” the asteroid, i.e. adjust its trajectory. To what end? Well, in this case with DART, to test whether this system would be effective in avoiding an asteroid collision with our planet if detected early enough. At its core, the concept is extremely simple: a minimal modification to the long-range trajectory can make a big difference in the mid- and long-range trajectory.

A) Yes, DART will collide in a few hours, around 1:15 in the morning. (mainland Spanish time) with Dymorph, an asteroid about 160 meters in diameter orbiting Didymos, which is 780 meters in diameter. the impact will occur at approximately 21,600 kilometers per hour and will almost certainly mean the total destruction of the ship, approximately 600 kilos. The collision will occur about 11 million kilometers from Earth and this is important, neither Dymorphos nor Didymos pose a threat to Earth, this mission is a test.

Just a few weeks ago, we learned that the mission was progressing favorably, to the point that DART was already able to make visual contact with Dymorphos and Didynos, and that all of their components and systems, as well as your passenger, LICIACube (Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroid) of the Italian space agency, were prepared for the most critical moment of the mission, the collision. Shortly before it, an Italian cubesat will detach from DART to gather information about the impact.

Later it will be HERA’s turn. And the point is that this is a joint mission in which DART depends primarily on NASA (although LICIACube is Italian), with HERA, which will carry out a detailed evaluation of the consequences of the DART action in the orbit of Dymorphos or Didymos, according to ESA, the European Space Agency.

For those who want to experience this event live from the hands of the US space agency, scheduled a live stream through his YouTube channel which will start in a few hours and in which we will be able to learn both the nature of the mission and the real-time tracking data and, more interestingly, the signal from the DRACO camera (responsible, among other things, for the navigation of the ship) while you are heading towards the asteroid and until the it won’t knock him down.