Bam NASA's Dart Spacecraft Slams Into Moonlet In Asteroid System
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impacted the 'moonlet' Dimorphos in the Didymos asteroid system. Watch the final moments of the spacecraft's existence and reaction from the team at John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
Credit: NASA
Credit: NASA
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00:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:04 The team is standing just recognizing this moment years in the making.
00:09 It is really nice to see them relax a little bit, get off from those computers
00:13 that they've been glued to and just appreciate this moment that's coming.
00:17 >> Yeah, and they've earned this.
00:19 It's just great to see them there.
00:22 This is so cool.
00:24 >> Lori, we hit another major milestone.
00:26 We are now two minutes and a half from impact and SmartNav has stopped
00:30 maneuvering the spacecraft.
00:32 DART is now coasting toward Dimorphos and we hope into the history books.
00:38 >> Absolutely, this will be, I'm sure you've heard it many times tonight,
00:42 humanity's first ever, ever attempt at trying to move another celestial body.
00:48 And also our first attempt ever to execute a mission,
00:52 sole purpose of planetary defense, so what an exciting, exciting time.
00:58 Yeah, and I'm starting to see Dimorphos start to come into view there.
01:01 You can see it's starting to take shape.
01:03 I'm starting to see individual boulders on Didymos.
01:06 Unbelievable, unbelievable clarity of images there.
01:10 >> We're coasting on in, our projected missed distance is gonna be about 17
01:14 meters.
01:14 >> All right.
01:15 >> [APPLAUSE]
01:22 >> All eyes on this event, space telescopes,
01:25 ground telescopes from every continent on Earth.
01:28 >> Yeah.
01:29 >> Yeah.
01:30 >> [LAUGH] All right, two minutes out.
01:34 Does not look like one single rock to me.
01:37 >> Boy, we're getting close.
01:38 >> 14,000 miles per hour, Lori.
01:42 >> 14,000 miles per hour, and remember, 45 minutes ago,
01:48 55 minutes ago, we couldn't even resolve this object in space.
01:52 And now we are, you can see us, zeroing in right on target.
01:57 >> And we're now dropping the clock and we'll go by loss of signal to confirm impact.
02:02 >> Right, yes.
02:05 Imagine we'll get that loss of signal and
02:06 then we'll hear from Lena Adams again, letting us know that we've been successful.
02:12 >> I feel like we'll know, I feel like that'll be a crystal clear signal.
02:16 >> [LAUGH] I think so.
02:19 I think we're starting to see more resolution.
02:23 In fact, look at that, Didymos has even come out of the view.
02:26 We're now just seeing dimorphous.
02:28 >> This is remarkable stuff.
02:33 >> My goodness, look at that.
02:35 >> Looks like control system settling down, angular rates look really good.
02:39 I think we're gonna get the investigation team some good pictures.
02:42 >> Wow.
02:46 >> No, no, come on, we can do better than that.
02:49 [LAUGH]
02:50 >> Starting to see those individual boulders there.
02:53 You can see shadows of the various rocks on the surface.
02:56 >> It's amazing guys.
03:00 My goodness, look at that.
03:03 Unbelievable.
03:04 >> Yeah.
03:04 Looks to me like we're headed straight in.
03:09 >> My gosh.
03:19 >> Wow.
03:19 >> Yeah.
03:20 >> My goodness.
03:22 >> Yeah.
03:23 >> Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
03:30 >> My gosh.
03:33 >> Wow.
03:35 >> Awaiting visual confirmation.
03:37 >> All right.
03:42 >> We got it?
03:44 >> Waiting.
03:45 >> Waiting.
03:46 >> And we have impact.
03:49 >> And we did it.
03:50 >> A giant leap for humanity in the name of planetary defense.
03:54 >> Fantastic.
03:57 Fantastic.
03:59 >> What a moment.
04:05 Very few words can really capture this moment.
04:07 This is beautiful to watch.
04:09 >> Amazing.
04:19 >> Amazing.
04:20 >> What a team.
04:21 What a team and what an accomplishment.
04:22 >> Team.
04:23 A few weeks ago they had their last dress rehearsal.
04:26 They were getting emotional at the dress rehearsal.
04:28 They're like, this is crazy.
04:30 We're getting emotional.
04:31 This is not the real thing.
04:32 I can't even imagine what they are feeling right now.
04:35 >> Yes.
04:38 Well, you can see them there on screen.
04:40 They're all pretty excited.
04:42 Wow.
04:45 >> Hearing impact, the curtains close on Draco feed.
04:49 That raw joy from the team, years of hard work and the weight of expectation lifted off their shoulders.
04:55 This is amazing.
04:59 >> Congratulations.
05:02 Congratulations.
05:03 Congratulations.
05:07 >> This is beautiful.
05:08 And, Lori, really, this is a huge moment for the mission.
05:12 Lots more work needs to happen in the days and weeks and months.
05:16 >> Absolutely.
05:17 Now, as I always say, it's one of my favorite missions, now is when the science starts.
05:21 It just starts now.
05:23 Now that we've impacted, now we're going to see for real how effective we were.
05:29 We're going to train all of those ground-based telescopes on the Didymos dimorphos system.
05:35 And we're going to make measurements that will help us determine just how -- what its orbit looks like now relative to what it was before.
05:44 So it's going to be great.
05:46 Very cool.
05:48 >> This is when science, engineering, and a great purpose, planetary defense, come together, and, you know, it makes a magical moment like this.
05:58 >> Yeah.
05:59 Absolutely.
06:00 And you can see so many people there that have made this happen.
06:04 The team of APL engineers that have really poured their souls into this mission.
06:12 >> Lori, any last words to mark this historic moment?
06:17 >> We're embarking on a new era of humankind, an era in which we potentially have the capability to protect ourself from something like a dangerous, hazardous asteroid impact.
06:33 What an amazing thing.
06:34 We've never had that capability before.
06:36 >> Thank you so much, Lori.
06:37 Those are poignant last words.
06:39 Tahira, history has been made.
06:42 Back to you.
06:46 >> Wow.
06:47 I mean, what an exciting day for the DART team.
06:51 And in case you're keeping score, humanity, one, asteroids, zero.
06:57 Now, I'm here with Nancy Chabot, DART coordination lead.
07:00 Nancy, talk about a moment to catch on camera.
07:04 What is going through your head right now?
07:06 >> I mean, I'm just thinking, wow, that was amazing, wasn't it?
07:10 I mean, those images.
07:11 You just got closer and closer.
07:12 And sort of we've been planning for this moment.
07:14 We've been talking about it for years.
07:16 At APL here we've been working on this since 2015.
07:19 And I knew -- I've been talking, this is the images that we're going to see and they're going to be spectacular.
07:24 And I think even then they exceeded my expectations of just zooming in like that.
07:28 And, you know, it really is just such the team accomplishment and to get to this moment over so many years.
07:34 And I don't have to talk about it as coming anymore.
07:37 It's happened now.
07:38 We have done this.
07:39 It's happened and it is just incredible that as humans, like we have done this.
07:44 We did this.
07:45 And, Nancy, do you have anything you'd like to say to the teams who made tonight possible?
07:50 >> Oh, I mean, I don't need to say anything to the teams because I know everybody like me is really proud to be part of this, right?
07:56 Proud of this thing that we've been working on for years.
07:59 And even before 2015, internationally, people wanted to do this.
08:03 People wanted to take this first test.
08:05 And then we finally did.
08:06 Partners across the United States.
08:08 We have actually 28 countries represented on our investigation team of scientists, telescopes on all seven continents.
08:14 Everybody doing their part to make this moment happen.
08:18 I know I'm really honored to be on this team and I know other people on the team feel the same way.
08:24 >> As you should, Nancy.
08:25 And, I mean, there's a lot to celebrate here tonight.
08:28 And so now that we have confirmed impact, can you let us know what's next for this mission?
08:35 >> Well, I mean, I think I'm still taking a moment here.
08:38 >> Yeah, soak it in.
08:39 >> Because this is a big deal.
08:41 And this was a really hard technology demonstration to hit a small asteroid we've never seen before and do it in such spectacular fashion.
08:50 But I know other scientists on the team like me are already pointing at those images being like, did you see that boulder?
08:56 Did you see that smooth area?
08:57 Did you see the shape?
08:58 What does that mean?
08:59 And Lichy Cube is like flying by right about now, their close approach, like taking images and they're storing them and we'll get those in the next days.
09:07 Telescopes here and in space are looking, they're looking at the brightening of the rock that's thrown off from that spectacular collision that we saw.
09:14 And this is going to go on for weeks.
09:16 And so there's still a lot of excitement to come, but nothing to take away from this moment.