![]() The most recent monster impact happened roughly 66 million years ago, when a 6 mile (10 km) wide asteroid collided with our planet, and gouged out a massive crater, the remains of which can still be found on the Yucatan Peninsula today.Ī combination of the devastation wrought by the initial impact, and the environmental changes brought about by the resulting fallout, sounded the death knell for 75 percent of all animal life on Earth, and effectively ended the age of the dinosaurs. “As new data come in each day, astronomers will be able to better assess whether, and how, a mission like DART could be used in the future to help protect Earth from a collision with an asteroid if we ever discover one headed our way.” “This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART’s impact with its target asteroid” comments the director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, Lori Glaze. In 2024, the European Space Agency’s Hera mission will launch to rendezvous with Dimorphos, and to observe the aftermath of humanity’s first successful planetary defence test. Image from the Hubble Space Telescope revealing Dimorphos' massive debris trail - Credits: NASA/ESA/STScI/Hubble In the coming months telescopes will continue to watch the asteroids in an attempt to narrow down Dimorphos’ orbit, and to gain a better understanding of how the debris that blasted off its surface in the wake of the impact had a role in altering its trajectory. ![]() NASA has revealed that the DART collision was able to reduce Dimorphos’ orbital period by roughly 32 minutes to 11 hours and 23 minutes - over 25 times greater than the minimum success parameters. In the two weeks following the impact, the asteroids have been meticulously studied by powerful Earthbound and orbital telescopes, including Hubble, Webb, and a tiny satellite that was released by the DART spacecraft before smashing into the surface. This would prove that kinetic impacts have the ability to significantly change an asteroid’s orbital characteristics, and potentially deflect an asteroid in the future that is on a collision course with Earth. A shot from the LICIACube satellite that was deployed from the DART probe before impact, showing debris streaming from Dimorphos - Credits: ASI/NASA/APLĪt the time, NASA stated that the mission would be a success if the kinetic force of the impact was able to reduce the usual time that it took the smaller asteroid to orbit the larger asteroid Didymos - roughly 11 hours and 55 minutes - by a mere 73 seconds. On Sept.26, the DART probe successfully impacted on the surface of Dimorphos at a speed of 14,000 mph (22,530 kmph), throwing up a huge cloud of debris as it carved a new crater in the surface of the wandering solar system body. The target for the DART mission was the 530 ft (160m)-wide asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits the larger 2,560 ft (780 m) asteroid Didymos as it makes its way around the Sun. ![]()
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