NASA Plays Chicken With an Asteroid and Celebrates a ‘Smashing’ Success

On September 26, NASA was able to successfully crash spacecraft into an asteroid. Now, it’s time to determine the outcome of this ‘impactful’ mission.

Arturo Weiss

Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 08:55 AM ET

Verified

NASA’s DART spacecraft and a small asteroid named Dimorphos had a date with destiny this week. [Courtesy: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL]

Key Takeaways:

NASA's DART mission successfully impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos on September 26 as a test of planetary defense.
The mission aimed to demonstrate the "kinetic impact" technique, where a spacecraft collision could alter an asteroid's orbit to prevent a future Earth impact.
The DART spacecraft struck Dimorphos, which orbits the larger asteroid Didymos (neither posing a threat to Earth), with the goal of subtly nudging its trajectory.
NASA is currently analyzing data from ground and space-based telescopes to assess the collision's effectiveness, anticipating a minor but significant change in Dimorphos' orbital period.

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On September 26, NASA celebrated the loss of a spacecraft’s signal. While communication loss would usually be a cause for concern, this expected signal disconnect resulted from a planned impact between the spacecraft and an asteroid. Why would we want to smash a perfectly good space vehicle into a stronger asteroid? To show that such an impact could alter the space rock’s orbit just enough to avoid a collision with our planet.

This game of galactic chicken made global headlines and wrote yet another page in NASA’s ongoing galactic narrative, which includes more suspense than an Agatha Christie thriller. Best of all, it was vividly captured via an onboard camera offering an up-close and personal view of the asteroid right before impact.