NASA says its recent attempt to deflect the path of an asteroid was successful. Scientists have now confirmed the orbit of a space rock known as Dimorphos was altered when the Dart probe struck it head on
Researchers came to the conclusion after making measurements using a range of space and Earth-based telescopes. The mission was conceived to test a potential strategy to defend the Earth against threatening objects.
The U.S. space agency launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission on June 26. It used a technique called kinetic impactor – slamming into the asteroid at high speed so as to nudge it off course. DART is designed to hit Dimorphos at about 6 km/s, which is about 10 times faster than a bullet fired from a gun.
NASA says: “Although no known object poses an imminent threat to our planet, by being better prepared for future impacts we can make our societies more resilient.”
NASA cautioned that DART would not save Earth from an impending collision because it was not large enough to do so – but said the experiment would help scientists understand how best to use kinetic impactors in future.
The U.S. space agency’s recent attempt to deflect an asteroid was successful according to scientists. The Doubles Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) hit the asteroid, Dimorphos, head on last month and altered its orbit.
This information has been gathered by researchers after making measurements using a range of space and Earth-based telescopes.
The mission was originally conceived to test a potential strategy to defend Earth against threatening objects such as asteroids. Although no known object poses an imminent threat to our planet, this experiment will help scientist understand how best to use kinetic impactors in future should the need arise.
