WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:10.410 --> 00:00:11.311 I'm Nancy Szabo. 2 00:00:11.311 --> 00:00:14.581 I'm a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, 3 00:00:14.581 --> 00:00:18.551 and I'm the coordination lead on the DART mission. 4 00:00:23.223 --> 00:00:26.760 This mission is about NASA's purposely crashing a spacecraft 5 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:31.398 into an asteroid as the first planetary defense test mission. 6 00:00:31.765 --> 00:00:35.101 That mission is DART, the double asteroid redirection test. 7 00:00:35.301 --> 00:00:37.771 T stands for test. That's very important here. 8 00:00:38.038 --> 00:00:39.472 This is not a threat to the earth. 9 00:00:39.472 --> 00:00:41.107 This asteroid is not a threat to the earth. 10 00:00:41.107 --> 00:00:43.443 And the DART test won't make it a threat to the earth. 11 00:00:43.443 --> 00:00:46.980 But we want to take the steps to develop technologies to potentially prevent 12 00:00:46.980 --> 00:00:50.083 asteroids from hitting the earth in the future if we needed to. 13 00:00:50.383 --> 00:00:52.786 So the DART spacecraft is going to come speeding in, 14 00:00:52.952 --> 00:00:56.256 hit this asteroid, and it's going to change that motion of that 15 00:00:56.256 --> 00:01:00.693 asteroid ever so slightly in space changing its future path. 16 00:01:01.094 --> 00:01:04.597 This is one technique that you might use to change the path of an asteroid 17 00:01:04.597 --> 00:01:08.134 if one was ever found to be a threat to the earth in the future. 18 00:01:08.501 --> 00:01:12.439 And we're doing this test now before we need it. 19 00:01:18.244 --> 00:01:19.079 This asteroid 20 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:22.382 is the ideal target for this first planetary defense test mission. 21 00:01:22.916 --> 00:01:24.284 And because it's to asteroids 22 00:01:24.284 --> 00:01:27.420 like the name of the mission says, it's a double asteroid out there. 23 00:01:27.587 --> 00:01:31.091 There's a larger asteroid titmouse and there's the little moonlit asteroid. 24 00:01:31.091 --> 00:01:32.926 The folks that goes around it. 25 00:01:32.926 --> 00:01:36.663 So Dart is going to slam into that small asteroid to more focus 26 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:40.567 and measure asteroid deflection within this asteroid system. 27 00:01:40.800 --> 00:01:42.001 This makes it a really safe 28 00:01:42.001 --> 00:01:43.903 way to do this test where we're just deflecting 29 00:01:43.903 --> 00:01:46.773 how a small moon asteroid goes around a larger asteroid 30 00:01:46.973 --> 00:01:50.243 with no measurable change about how this asteroid goes around the sun. 31 00:01:50.677 --> 00:01:53.880 But it also lets us use telescopes here on the earth 32 00:01:54.080 --> 00:01:56.049 in order to measure that deflection. 33 00:01:56.049 --> 00:01:58.418 So it allows the DART spacecraft to be very focused, 34 00:01:58.618 --> 00:02:01.621 but then use these telescopes that discover this asteroid system 35 00:02:01.621 --> 00:02:06.726 and have been studying it for years to figure out how much we moved it. 36 00:02:11.331 --> 00:02:13.433 So the asteroid that it's colliding with the DART 37 00:02:13.433 --> 00:02:17.704 spacecraft will collide with the Morpho is about 160 meters in diameter. 38 00:02:17.704 --> 00:02:20.006 It's a less than two football fields in length, 39 00:02:20.640 --> 00:02:23.343 and it goes around one that's about half a mile in diameter. 40 00:02:23.643 --> 00:02:26.446 But really, asteroids that are the size of dynamos 41 00:02:26.446 --> 00:02:30.016 we found the large majority of that population, and none of those 42 00:02:30.016 --> 00:02:34.320 asteroids at that larger size are a threat to the Earth for the foreseeable future. 43 00:02:34.721 --> 00:02:38.424 Now, there are no known asteroid threats that are a threat to the Earth 44 00:02:38.424 --> 00:02:39.926 for the foreseeable future. 45 00:02:39.926 --> 00:02:41.127 But the size of the more folks, 46 00:02:41.127 --> 00:02:45.265 we actually have found less than 50% of that asteroid population. 47 00:02:45.598 --> 00:02:49.135 And so along with finding all of these asteroids, figuring out where they are 48 00:02:49.135 --> 00:02:53.039 and keeping track of them, we want to take steps to be ready in case 49 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:55.241 we need to in case we need to protect the earth 50 00:02:55.475 --> 00:02:58.578 from an asteroid, impact the size of something like tomatoes. 51 00:02:58.778 --> 00:03:01.614 And so this target asteroid is really the ideal way 52 00:03:01.614 --> 00:03:10.523 to do this first test, 53 00:03:10.523 --> 00:03:14.294 the way that you would use technology like this in the future, if you needed to 54 00:03:14.294 --> 00:03:17.830 if you needed to deflect an asteroid that was on the course with the Earth 55 00:03:18.131 --> 00:03:21.901 is not the Hollywood blockbuster last minute kind of scenario. 56 00:03:21.901 --> 00:03:24.137 It's something that you need to do years in advance. 57 00:03:24.571 --> 00:03:27.974 And so you would do this five, ten, 15, 20 years in advance. 58 00:03:27.974 --> 00:03:32.378 A small nudge adds up to a big change in position over that time. 59 00:03:32.378 --> 00:03:35.381 And that's why you need this warning time, which is why DART is just 60 00:03:35.381 --> 00:03:38.251 one part of a larger planetary defense strategy. 61 00:03:38.451 --> 00:03:41.254 Planetary defense is not just about deflecting asteroids. 62 00:03:41.254 --> 00:03:44.190 You can't do anything about the asteroids if you don't know where they are. 63 00:03:44.490 --> 00:03:48.494 So Planetary Defense, really Key Foundation is finding the asteroids, 64 00:03:48.494 --> 00:03:52.632 characterizing them, assessing them, and then taking steps to potentially 65 00:03:52.632 --> 00:03:56.836 prevent these natural disasters in the future. 66 00:04:01.774 --> 00:04:04.244 I am excited about everything about this mission. 67 00:04:04.577 --> 00:04:07.680 We've been working on this here at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab 68 00:04:07.847 --> 00:04:11.184 since 2015, and literally thousands of people 69 00:04:11.184 --> 00:04:13.620 have contributed to this to get us to this moment. 70 00:04:14.187 --> 00:04:17.490 From the people who developed and designed it, built the spacecraft. 71 00:04:17.624 --> 00:04:19.325 Our partners across the country, 72 00:04:19.325 --> 00:04:21.094 those who have been operating the spacecraft 73 00:04:21.094 --> 00:04:24.931 for the last ten months in space, over 200.000 images 74 00:04:24.931 --> 00:04:28.034 taken already to calibrate that spacecraft know what's going to happen. 75 00:04:28.301 --> 00:04:31.271 Telescopes around the world on all seven continents 76 00:04:31.471 --> 00:04:34.474 and in space, everybody's ready for this moment. 77 00:04:34.474 --> 00:04:45.151 And I'm excited about it finally being here. 78 00:04:45.285 --> 00:04:48.421 Well, certainly before the collision, actually, we're going to get 79 00:04:48.421 --> 00:04:52.358 some spectacular extreme close ups of the asteroid to our foes. 80 00:04:52.558 --> 00:04:55.161 And I'm really looking forward to this moment personally 81 00:04:55.261 --> 00:04:57.930 where we'll see what this asteroid looks like for the first time. 82 00:04:58.197 --> 00:05:01.968 So these images will be taken by the DART spacecraft every second 83 00:05:02.168 --> 00:05:05.104 as that spacecraft streams towards this asteroid 84 00:05:05.104 --> 00:05:07.874 at 14,000 miles per hour. 85 00:05:08.141 --> 00:05:09.942 These images will come back here to Earth. 86 00:05:09.942 --> 00:05:12.645 And when they make it to the mission operations center here at the Johns 87 00:05:12.645 --> 00:05:16.983 Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, they'll be broadcast live on NASA TV, 88 00:05:17.183 --> 00:05:20.787 where the whole world can see this data at the same time that the team is. 89 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.256 And so this will be really spectacular 90 00:05:23.256 --> 00:05:27.026 and tell the final moments and the story of the DART spacecraft. 91 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.063 But this obviously won't tell us how much we deflected the asteroid 92 00:05:30.063 --> 00:05:32.598 because the DART spacecraft will be totally destroyed at this point. 93 00:05:32.865 --> 00:05:35.401 We're going to use the telescopes here on the earth in order to do that. 94 00:05:35.601 --> 00:05:39.872 And telescopes across the across the world on all seven continents 95 00:05:39.872 --> 00:05:43.209 and in space are being used to help characterize and make this measurement. 96 00:05:43.443 --> 00:05:46.846 This will take a few days and weeks in order to really come up with that. 97 00:05:46.846 --> 00:05:52.352 But we're ready to have this next stage of the mission begin. 98 00:05:58.157 --> 00:06:00.960 So Dart's companion, CubeSat is called the Feature Cube. 99 00:06:00.993 --> 00:06:04.030 It's the light Italian CubeSat for imaging of asteroids. 100 00:06:04.330 --> 00:06:08.301 It's contributed by the Italian space agency, and it has two cameras on it. 101 00:06:08.568 --> 00:06:12.538 And so what this CubeSat is going to do, it was actually deployed an ejected 102 00:06:12.538 --> 00:06:15.608 successfully from the DART spacecraft about two weeks ago 103 00:06:15.775 --> 00:06:18.978 and it's been operating on its own in space ever since then. 104 00:06:19.212 --> 00:06:23.516 It's going to take direct images of Dart's collision into the asteroid 105 00:06:23.649 --> 00:06:28.321 and then fly by that asteroid its closest 3 minutes after Dart's collision. 106 00:06:28.321 --> 00:06:29.922 Taking even more images. 107 00:06:29.922 --> 00:06:33.793 Now, it'll store all those images on board and then send it back after its 108 00:06:33.793 --> 00:06:34.727 flyby is over. 109 00:06:34.727 --> 00:06:36.929 So we'll have to wait days to see what it finds. 110 00:06:37.463 --> 00:06:40.666 But we're so excited to have this international collaboration on DART 111 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.670 for this first planetary defense test mission, because planetary defense 112 00:06:44.670 --> 00:06:48.141 is really an international issue. 113 00:06:53.246 --> 00:06:55.448 Well, here at APL, like you might imagine, 114 00:06:55.448 --> 00:06:59.118 there's a lot of excitement building and there's a lot of activities going on. 115 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:02.622 The Mission Operations Center is extremely busy 116 00:07:03.156 --> 00:07:04.791 and so they will all be there. 117 00:07:04.791 --> 00:07:08.094 And one of the main challenges actually for this mission is hitting 118 00:07:08.094 --> 00:07:12.932 a small asteroid in space that you have limited information about at high speed. 119 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:17.170 In order to do that, the spacecraft actually will autonomously 120 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:20.773 guide itself during the last 4 hours of the mission. 121 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.876 And so that's all getting prepared, prepared for that, 122 00:07:24.076 --> 00:07:25.411 where we have to make sure 123 00:07:25.411 --> 00:07:28.915 the spacecraft is where it needs to be and then put on this autopilot and it will 124 00:07:29.215 --> 00:07:31.551 distinguish between these asteroids and bring itself in. 125 00:07:32.151 --> 00:07:36.222 We're really welcoming people in order to focus guests here at APL. 126 00:07:36.222 --> 00:07:39.559 But really the world to join and watch this event live 127 00:07:39.559 --> 00:07:48.734 when it's shown on NASA TV. 128 00:07:49.135 --> 00:07:50.203 So in order to figure out 129 00:07:50.203 --> 00:07:53.940 asteroid deflection, how much Dart's collision deflected the asteroid. 130 00:07:53.973 --> 00:07:57.176 We have telescopes across the planet and in space. 131 00:07:57.176 --> 00:07:58.010 This includes 132 00:07:58.010 --> 00:08:02.081 Hubble, this includes GWC, and it includes the Lucy spacecraft as well. 133 00:08:02.348 --> 00:08:03.783 They're going to be looking 134 00:08:03.783 --> 00:08:06.986 not just for how much deflection, but how much ejecta is thrown up. 135 00:08:07.153 --> 00:08:09.388 So when dart collides with this rocky asteroid, it's 136 00:08:09.388 --> 00:08:11.557 going to pulverize a bunch of rock and material 137 00:08:11.557 --> 00:08:14.293 and it's going to throw it up away from the asteroid. 138 00:08:14.494 --> 00:08:17.363 And this will result in the system getting a little brighter. 139 00:08:17.363 --> 00:08:18.130 And the telescopes 140 00:08:18.130 --> 00:08:21.000 are going to be looking, trying to capture that, characterize that. 141 00:08:21.367 --> 00:08:25.204 And it's really so great to have all of these facilities coming together 142 00:08:25.204 --> 00:08:32.044 to maximize what we learn from this first planetary defense test mission. 143 00:08:35.748 --> 00:08:37.450 Will So we 144 00:08:37.450 --> 00:08:40.953 know from other asteroids that have been visited by other missions 145 00:08:40.953 --> 00:08:44.991 that these are complicated things that are not just giant shards of rock out there 146 00:08:44.991 --> 00:08:45.525 in space. 147 00:08:45.525 --> 00:08:49.495 Those cirrus MCs Rex mission found that it was a pile of gravel 148 00:08:49.495 --> 00:08:52.698 loosely bound together in this very low gravity environment. 149 00:08:52.698 --> 00:08:55.868 And when they went to sample it, it went further into the asteroid 150 00:08:55.902 --> 00:08:58.437 than maybe people were initially expecting. 151 00:08:59.472 --> 00:09:01.140 We've never seen two more folks before. 152 00:09:01.140 --> 00:09:05.177 And in fact, it's going to be the smallest asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft. 153 00:09:05.211 --> 00:09:07.680 What is it, its internal structure? How strong is it? 154 00:09:07.947 --> 00:09:10.750 These are important components for planetary defense. 155 00:09:10.783 --> 00:09:13.853 If you wanted to protect the earth from an asteroid like this. 156 00:09:14.086 --> 00:09:17.223 And that's also why we need to do dart doing this full scale 157 00:09:17.223 --> 00:09:20.893 asteroid deflection test on an asteroid of the relevant size 158 00:09:21.160 --> 00:09:24.597 to see how that asteroid reacts to this kinetic impactor collision. 159 00:09:24.864 --> 00:09:27.166 So we've learned a lot from those other asteroid missions, 160 00:09:27.166 --> 00:09:28.601 and we're going to learn even more from DART.