Test in the night to defend the Earth from asteroids, with the Dart probe DIRECT FROM 24.00

Everything is ready for the first

: in

the night, at 1: 14 Italian on 27 September, NASA 's

probe will impact the asteroid

to divert its trajectory: this is how we experience it,

, a technology that in the future could

from the eventual impact of a

threatening

Like a cosmic photojournalist, the Italian minisatellite

collect the first data on the event.

Graphic representation of the asteroid Dimorphos, with a diameter of 160 meters, in comparison with the Colosseum (source: ESA-Science Office)

Financed by ASI and built by the Argotec company of Turin, LiciaCube is the result of a great team game in which the National Institute of Astrophysics, Polytechnic University of Milan, University of Bologna, Parthenope University of Naples and the 'Nello' Institute of Applied Physics participate. Carrara 'of the National Research Council (Cnr-Ifac).

"LiciaCube is the first all-Italian satellite to operate in total autonomy from a distance to which no Italian vehicle has ever ventured and which will be managed by a control center in Italy", Simone Pirrotta, head of the LiciaCube mission, told ANSA. for the ASI.

The system formed by the asteroid Didymos, around which another asteroid, Dimorphos rotates (source: ESA)

Tonight "the Dart Dart probe will acquire images up to a few seconds before impact and then signal will stop," Pirrotta said.

That silence will mean that the probe is no longer functional and will probably have achieved its goal.

"At that moment - observed the expert - LiciaCube will be just under a thousand kilometers from the point of impact and could see a slight increase in brightness".

However, it is not sure that this can happen as the LiciaCube tools acquire images with a predetermined cadence.

If the impact were to happen in one of the moments foreseen for the acquisition of the images, then "this will be an added value".

Simulation of the jet of dust produced by the impact of the Dart probe on the asteroid Dimorphos (source: ESA)

The Italian minisatellite will begin capturing the first images starting three minutes after the impact of Dart, which will arrive on Earth after a few hours.

"With its real-time reporting, LiciaCube will provide quantitative information on the effectiveness of the deflection technique, which will take some time for Earth-based telescopes. And on the nature of the asteroid," Pirrotta said.

The puff of material raised by the impact of Dart on Dimorphos will allow "to have the first estimates of the mass, porosity, density and consistency of the asteroid".

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