An activity to stimulate interest in asteroid science. Participants will be shown the results of NASA’s DART mission, in which a spacecraft will deliberately crash into an asteroid.

An activity to stimulate interest in asteroid science. Participants will be shown the results of NASA’s DART mission, in which a spacecraft will deliberately crash into an asteroid.

Programme:

1. Attendees will provide their questions and comments in writing before or at the start of the activity. The questions will be answered by group members and other experts who will take part in the session remotely.
2. Through animations, videos and short explanations, participants will be introduced to the DART and Hera missions, aimed at reducing asteroid impact hazards.
3. Images from the DART mission will be displayed, showing the effects of the impact on the asteroid Dimorphos, which will have taken place just 4 days earlier.
4. ESA and NASA experts will join the session remotely to answer attendees’ questions live (in Spanish).
5. Also through remote connection, attendees will be shown how past impacts on the Moon have been detected.
6. Scale models of space probes and asteroid rocks will be built, allowing participants to check how much they actually weigh on an asteroid.

Coordinated by: Adriano Campo Bagatin, Astronomy and Astrophysics Group. University Institute for Physics Applied to Science and Technology, University of Alicante

Date and time: 30/09/2022 8.30 to 10 p.m.

Place: University of Alicante – San Vicente del Raspeig Campus – Amphitheatre outside Lecture Building 2