Double Asteroid Redirection Test
-
NASA
NASA’s DART Mission Changed Orbit of Asteroid Didymos Around Sun
New research reveals that when NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in September 2022, it didn’t just change the motion of Dimorphos around its larger companion, Didymos; the crash also shifted the orbit of both asteroids around the Sun. Linked together by gravity, Didymos and Dimorphos orbit each other around a shared center…
Read More » -
NASA
Close-Up Views of NASA’s DART Impact to Inform Planetary Defense
On Sept. 11, 2022, engineers at a flight control center in Turin, Italy, sent a radio signal into deep space. Its destination was NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft flying toward an asteroid more than 5 million miles away. The message prompted the spacecraft to execute a series of pre-programmed commands that caused a small, shoebox-sized satellite contributed by the Italian…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA’s DART Team Earns AIAA Space Systems Award for Pioneering Mission
NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission continues to yield scientific discoveries and garner accolades for its groundbreaking achievements. The mission team was recently recognized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)with the 2024 Space Systems Award during this year’s AIAA ASCEND event, held July 29 to Aug. 2 in Las Vegas. APL’s Geffrey Ottman (left), electrical systems engineer on NASA’s DART (Double…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA’s DART Mission Sheds New Light on Target Binary Asteroid System
The various geological features observed on Didymos helped researchers tell the story of Didymos’ origins. The asteroid’s triangular ridge (first panel from left), and the so-called smooth region, and its likely older, rougher “highland” region (second panel from left) can be explained through a combination of slope processes controlled by elevation (third panel from left). The fourth panel shows the…
Read More » -
NASA
DART Team Earns Smithsonian Michael Collins Trophy for Successful Planetary Defense Test Mission
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will be honored with the 2024 Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement. For its work developing and managing the first-ever planetary defense test mission, the team comprised by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is being lauded for outstanding achievements in the fields of aerospace science and technology.…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA Confirms DART Mission Impact Changed Asteroid’s Motion in Space
Analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) investigation team shows the spacecraft’s kinetic impact with its target asteroid, Dimorphos, successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit. This marks humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology. “All of us have a responsibility…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA Invites Media to Witness World’s First Planetary Defense Test
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world’s first mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, will impact its target asteroid—which poses no threat to Earth—at 7:14 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 26. Among other activities, NASA will host a televised briefing beginning at 6 p.m. on Sept. 26 from the Johns Hopkins Applied…
Read More » -
NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet Earth
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world’s first full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, launched Wednesday at 1:21 a.m. EST on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Just one part of NASA’s larger planetary defense strategy, DART – built…
Read More »