For the first time in history, a spacecraft from Earth crashed into an asteroid to protect the planet from an Earth-bound asteroid or comet.
NASA’s Double Asteroid Rendezvous Test (DART) probe successfully impacted a small asteroid 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth on September 26 in what the U.S. space agency called the world’s first planetary defense test.
“Our first planetary defense test was a success,” said Elena Adams, DART’s mission systems engineer at the mission control at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in the US state of Maryland. “I think Earthlings should sleep better. Definitely, I will.”
Why? The goal of the mission was to collide the golf cart-sized DART spacecraft with the asteroid and slightly change the orbit of the space rock called Dimorphos around its massive parent asteroid called Didymos just enough to prove humanity could deflect a dangerous asteroid if one was headed for Earth. Neither asteroid was considered a threat to Earth and was merely used as an experiment.
“This first-of-its-kind mission required incredible preparation and precision, and the team exceeded expectations on all counts,” said APL Director Ralph Semmel. “Beyond the truly exciting success of the technology demonstration, capabilities based on DART could one day be used to change the course of an asteroid to protect our planet and preserve life on Earth as we know it.”
Benefit for humanity: “DART represents an unprecedented success for planetary defense, but it is also a mission of unity with a real benefit for all humanity,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson. “As NASA studies the cosmos and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home and this international collaboration turned science fiction into science fact, demonstrating one way to protect Earth.”
NASA’s DART Mission: The seven-year and more than $300 million DART initiative that successfully impacted ts target on September 26 at about 23:00 GMT confirms that NASA can successfully navigate a spacecraft to intentionally collide with an asteroid to deflect it, a technique known as kinetic impact. “Now we know we can aim a spacecraft with the precision needed to impact even a small body in space. Just a small change in its speed is all we need to make a significant difference in the path an asteroid travels” says Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
Four years from now, the European Space Agency’s Hera project will conduct detailed surveys, allowing information on the impact’s effects.
Brief: In its first-of-its-kind mission, NASA’s DART spacecraft successfully slammed into a distant asteroid to deflect it, demonstrating NASA’s capability to prevent a potential doomsday meteorite collision with Earth.
