The spacecraft that NASA deliberately crashed into an asteroid last month succeeded in nudging the rocky moonlet out of its natural orbit, the US space agency says
The fridge-sized Double Asteroid Redirection Test impactor deliberately smashed into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos, pushing it into a smaller, faster orbit around its big brother Didymos.
The spacecraft that NASA deliberately crashed into an asteroid last month succeeded in nudging the rocky moonlet out of its natural orbit - the first time humanity has altered the motion of a celestial body, NASA's chief has announced. "This is a watershed moment for planetary defence and a watershed moment for humanity," NASA chief Bill Nelson told reporters on Tuesday, announcing the results.
Findings of telescope observations unveiled at a NASA news briefing showed that the suicide test flight of the DART spacecraft on September 26 achieved its primary objective: changing the direction of an asteroid through sheer kinetic force. The $330 million proof-of-concept DART mission, which was seven years in development, also marked the world's first test of a planetary defence system designed to prevent a potential doomsday meteorite collision with Earth.
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