NASA says DART was more effective than it’d hoped
Since then the orbit has slowed by 32 minutes.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test took place at the tail end of September and now NASA has reported back on whetherAs it turns out, the age old practice of smashing things into other things is always a good idea and that’s no different in space. Observations on the ground by an investigation team have concluded that DART’s impact shifted the orbit of Dimorphos by about 32 minutes, give or take two minutes.
“This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART’s impact with its target asteroid,” NASA’s director of Planetary Science, Lori Glaze said in“As new data comes 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,” Glaze added.
Investigators will however shift focus to how much momentum DART was able to transfer to Dimorphos after the collision. This will be done – in part – through analysis of the “ejecta” or, all of the rock and debris that was launched into space upon impact.
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