NASA efficiently smacked its DART spacecraft into an asteroid

After practically a 12 months in transit, NASA’s experimental Double Asteroid Redirection Check (DART) mission, which sought to reply the questions, “May you probably shove a asteroid off its planet-killing trajectory by hitting it with a specifically designed satellite tv for pc? How about a number of?” has efficiently collided with the Dimorphos asteroid. Outcomes and information from the collision are nonetheless coming in however NASA floor management confirms that the DART affect car has intercepted the goal asteroid. Sure, granted, Dimorphos is roughly the dimensions of an American soccer stadium however area is each very massive and really darkish, and each asteroid and spacecraft have been transferring fairly quick on the time.

NASA launched the DART mission in November, 2021 in an effort to discover the usage of defensive satellites as a way of planetary protection in opposition to Close to Earth Objects. The merchandising machine-sized DART impactor car was travelling at roughly 14,000 MPH when it fatally crossed Dimorphos’ path practically 68 million miles away from Earth. 

Whether or not future iterations of a planetary protection system brimming with satellites prepared to go all June Bug vs Chrysler Windshield in opposition to true planet-killer asteroids stays to be seen. Dimorphos itself is the smaller of a pair of gravitationally-entangled asteroids — its father or mother rock is greater than 5 instances as massive — however each are dwarfed by the area rock that hit Earth 66 million years in the past, wiping out 75 p.c of multicellular life on the planet whereas gouging out the Gulf of Mexico. 

The DART crew will doubtless be poring over the information generated by each the impactor and cameras launched earlier than the spacecraft made its remaining method for days to return. Nevertheless the crew will contemplate shortening the orbital observe of Dimorphos round Didymos by 10 minutes an excellent consequence, although any change of at the least 73 seconds will nonetheless be hailed as a rousing success.