NASA Confirms Success of DART Mission

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The image above was taken on October 8, 2022 by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. It shows the debris blasted from the surface of Dimorphos 285 hours after the asteroid was intentionally hit by NASA’s DART spacecraft on September 26th. NASA stated that the shape of that tail has changed over time. ( NASA/ESA/STScI/Hubble)

NASA has saved the Earth, or it would have had the asteroid Dimorphos and its partner been heading towards us. That is the news from earlier today from the space agency. NASA’s Administrator Bill Nelson made the following comments regarding the results of the impact by the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft:

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.

NASA scientists determined that the orbit of Dimorphos around its parent asteroid, Didymos, was truncated by 32 minutes as a result of the impact. Since minimum success would have been 1 minute 13 seconds, DART was a great success.

Hollywood may prefer a more dramatic method with oil rig astronauts and nuclear bombs, but sometimes a simple nudge will do the job.

Credit: Touchstone Pictures