NASA’s Asteroid-Smashing Mission Permanently Knocked Moon Off Orbit?
NASA Space Technology An illustration depicting NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft prior to impact at the Didymos binary asteroid system. (Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Remember when NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid last year? Well, the aftermath of that cosmic collision just got a whole lot more interesting.In a groundbreaking study published in the Planetary Science Journalscientists have uncovered some unexpected results from NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. It turns out that when DART slammed into the asteroid moon Dimorphos in 2022, it didn’t just leave a dent – it completely reshaped the celestial body and potentially set it on a chaotic new path.Breaking down what happened and why it mattersFirst, a quick refresher: DART was NASA’s test run for planetary defense. The...
