NASA's DART mission to test deflecting killer asteroids away from Earth was a smashing success

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Double Asteroid Redirection Test was a smashing success, the agency announced on Tuesday.

The purpose of DART was to ascertain if near-Earth objects on a collision course with our planet could be deflected by crashing spacecraft into them. In this case, a probe was directed toward the half-mile-wide asteroid Didymos and its smaller 279-foot-wide orbital companion Dimorphus. On September 26th, DART jettisoned its projectile at Dimorphus. The nearly 14,000-mile-per-hour hit was observed by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes as well as by astronomers on the ground.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained at a press conference that "DART successfully changed the targeted asteroid's trajectory." NASA knows this, he added, because "prior to DART’s impact, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its larger parent asteroid, Didymos. Since DART’s impact, astronomers have been using telescopes on Earth to measure how much that time has changed. And now the team has confirmed the spacecraft’s impact altered Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes, and therefore, successfully moved its trajectory."

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NASA further noted that the impact of DART into Didymos resulted in "shortening the 11-hour and 55-minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes. This measurement has a margin of uncertainty of approximately plus or minus 2 minutes." NASA also stated that "before its encounter, NASA had defined a minimum successful orbit period change of Dimorphos as change of 73 seconds or more. This early data show DART surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times."

After the data were confirmed, Nelson underscored the profound importance of these types of experiments.

“All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it’s the only one we have,” Nelson said. “This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us. NASA has proven we are serious as a defender of the planet. This is a watershed moment for planetary defense and all of humanity, demonstrating commitment from NASA's exceptional team and partners from around the world.”

Watch below or at this link.

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