What should we do if we find a dangerous asteroid on course to hit Earth? There are a number of possible deflection techniques, ranging from extreme (a nuclear blast) to benign (a heavy spacecraft uses gravity to nudge the asteroid off-course).
Somewhere in between is the kinetic impactor technique. The concept is simple: Slam one or more spacecraft into the asteroid at high speed to change its orbit and move Earth out of the crosshairs. This technique works particularly well if used far in advance, since small nudges can add up to big changes later on.
DART, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is the first space mission to test this or any other asteroid deflection technique. DART launches between November 2021 and February 2022 and will arrive at near-Earth asteroid Didymos in September 2022. The spacecraft won't slow down, intentionally crashing into the asteroid's small moon Dimorphos. The crash should change the time it takes Dimorphos to orbit Didymos, proving the kinetic impactor technique works.
You can now take on the challenge of achieving the DART objectives for yourself using the DART Range mod for Kerbal Space Program.
With the installation of DART Range, Didymos and Dimorphos are added to the Kerbal universe. Didymos is classified a “planet”. Like other planets and moons in KSP, you can orbit and land on Didymos, but you cannot alter its orbit. Dimorphos is classified a “part”. Like asteroids and comets in KSP, you cannot orbit or land on Dimorphos, but you can redirect its path and change its orbit. You can also grab Dimorphos using the grabber unit.
Didymos and Dimorphos are tiny targets that offer a difficult navigational challenge, but if you are able to guide a spacecraft to an impact with Dimorphos, the resulting changes are real and immediately observable. Do you have the right stuff to save Kerbalkind from a deadly asteroid impact? Take to the DART Range and find out.
Download the DART.zip file, extract the DART folder, and copy it to the GameData folder of your KSP installation. Everything needed for it to work is self-contained; there are no required dependencies.
- Galileo
- JadeOfMaar
- OhioBob
- R-T-B
- Gameslinx AKA Linx
- Angel-125
- theRagingIrishman
DART Range, Parallax - All Rights Reserved
Kopernicus - GPL
SpaceObjectSpawner - GPLV3
ModularFlightIntegrator - MIT