Scientists from the DART team have since been analyzing data collected from the mission and are now in Nature. of DART They published five papers detailing their results. They also decided that yes, the method could be used to defend Earth if an asteroid big enough to kill us all got in our way.
Seems like DART’s solar panels one crashed into Dimosphos before his body completely collided with the rock at 6 km per second (3.7 miles per second). The spacecraft crashed into the asteroid about 25 meters from its centre, which was a huge factor in the success of the mission as it maximized the strength of the impact.
NASA’s DART spacecraft removed more than 1,000 tons of rock from its target asteroid
According to research, collision from Dimorphos He managed to throw 1 million kilograms or 1,100 tons of rocks. This fallout of debris flew out of the asteroid, creating four times the impact speed of DART and further altering Dimorphos’ trajectory.
NASA mission though only tested it on a space rock, scientists dimorphos They concluded that we didn’t even need to send a reconnaissance mission for asteroids as large as this one beforehand. As long as we get at least a few years of warning, then we’ll be able to catch future asteroid threads, although a few decades would be preferable. california, in Mountain View Franck Marchis of the SETI Institute told Nature:[W]e can quickly design a mission to deflect an asteroid if there is a threat, and we know this has a very good chance of being effective.”