NASA Successfully Deflected Harmless Asteroid In Test For Doomsday Scenario

Topline

NASA confirmed Tuesday it successfully changed the orbit of a small asteroid 7 million miles from Earth, two weeks after the agency rammed an uncrewed spacecraft into the asteroid to test whether NASA can redirect incoming space objects before they barrel toward Earth.

Key Facts

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) shaved a larger-than-expected 32 minutes off the time the 525-foot-wide asteroid, called Dimorphos, takes to orbit a larger asteroid called Didymos, marking the first time NASA has changed the orbit of a planetary body, agency officials announced on Tuesday.

NASA has been monitoring the asteroid’s orbit using telescopes on Earth, following the refrigerator-size spacecraft’s deliberate crash on September 26, ramming the asteroid at a speed of 14,000 miles per hour.

The agency’s goal had been to shorten Dimorphos’ orbit by 10 minutes, although a change of just 73 seconds would have been enough to successfully redirect it.

What To Watch For

Following the crash, agency officials said their focus now is on analyzing the effects of the collision, including how much of the asteroid was blown into space on impact. The crash could leave the asteroid unrecognizable, scientists at the University of Bern in Switzerland wrote in a paper published in June in Planetary Science Journal.

Key Background

NASA launched its DART spacecraft from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last November, setting it on a path toward Dimorphos, which poses no threat to Earth. The asteroid, which was built by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, cost $330 million, Reuters reported. The spacecraft was designed to test whether an asteroid’s path can be altered by crashing a manmade object into it. Although NASA does not know of any asteroids larger than 460 feet—big enough to cause mass casualties—that have a “significant chance” of colliding with Earth over the next 100 years, agency officials say the DART program could be a life-saving initiative in the event a large asteroid heads toward the planet. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called it an “anchor point” for future tests on the impact a spacecraft could have on an asteroid.

Crucial Quote

“All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it’s the only one we have,” said Nelson. “This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us.”

Further Reading

DART Mission: NASA Successfully Crashes Spacecraft Into Asteroid To Practice Protecting Earth (Forbes)

NASA’s Jaw-Dropping Plan To Deflect An Asteroid This September Could Leave Its Target ‘Unrecognizable’ Say Scientists (Forbes)

NASA And SpaceX Launch Experimental Spacecraft That Will Collide With An Asteroid—But It’s Not ‘Armageddon’ (Forbes)