The journal Nature published four papers centered on the results of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which aimed to prove that a kinetic impactor can hit and alter the trajectory of the space object, lead investigator Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory reported Wednesday.
The DART mission was able to impact and change the course of the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos by 33 minutes, marking a breakthrough in planetary defense studies.
The DART autonomous spacecraft was launched in November 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and collided with the moonlet on Sept. 26, 2022. The asteroid, whose diameter measured less than a kilometer, was intercepted because of spacecraft collision as well as ejecta recoil, the researchers found.
While the first paper reported on DART’s completion, the second and third papers detailed the calculations made by the scientists to determine period change from impact as well as momentum change transferred to Dimorphos. Period change was 33 minutes, plus or minus one minute, while momentum was amplified by ejecta recoil by a factor of 2.2 to 4.9, from a speed of about 2.7 millimeters per second.
The fourth paper provides information on the formation of an active asteroid based on Dimorphos transition as a result of DART’S impact. “DART will continue to be the model for studies of newly discovered asteroids that show activity caused by natural impacts,” the authors wrote.
