NASA’s DART Mission Successfully Shoved an Asteroid
upstart writes:
The orbital change was even bigger than scientists expected:
It worked! Humanity has, for the first time, purposely moved a celestial object.
As a test of a potential asteroid-deflection scheme, NASA's DART spacecraft shortened the orbit of asteroid Dimorphos by 32 minutes - a far greater change than astronomers expected.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, rammed into the tiny asteroid at about 22,500 kilometers per hour on September 26 (SN: 9/26/22). The goal was to move Dimorphos slightly closer to the larger asteroid it orbits, Didymos.
[...] The minimum change for the DART team to declare success was 73 seconds - a hurdle the mission overshot by more than 30 minutes. The team thinks the spectacular plume of debris that the impactor kicked up gave the mission extra oomph. The impact itself gave some momentum to the asteroid, but the debris flying off in the other direction pushed it even more - like a temporary rocket engine.
"This is a very exciting and promising result for planetary defense," Chabot said. But the change in orbital period was just 4 percent. "It just gave it a small nudge," she said. So knowing an asteroid is coming is crucial to future success. For something similar to work on an asteroid headed for Earth, "you'd want to do it years in advance," Chabot said. An upcoming space telescope called Near Earth Asteroid Surveyor is one of many projects intended to give that early warning.
Previously:
NASA's DART Asteroid Impact Test Left a Trail Over 6,000 Miles Long
New Hubble and Webb Images Capture Aftermath of DART Asteroid Smash Up
NASA's DART Successfully Collides With Asteroid and Makes a Show
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