US space agency NASA confirmed on Wednesday that its recent attempt to alter the path of an asteroid happened successfully. NASA said that the orbit of 160m-wide (520ft) space rock known as Dimorphos was changed when the DART probe struck its head in September this year.
On Twitter, NASA confirmed that analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by the DART mission team shows impact with Dimorphos has successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit by 32 minutes - marking the 1st time humans have changed the orbit of a celestial object 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," NASA said in a statement.
The American space agency added that DART mission, "shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us. NASA has proven we are serious as a defender of the planet. This is a watershed moment for planetary defense and all of humanity, demonstrating commitment from NASA's exceptional team and partners from around the world".
The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the asteroid Dimorphos on 26 September, hurling debris out into space and creating a cometlike trail of dust and rubble stretching several thousand miles (kilometers). It took consecutive nights of telescope observations from Chile and South Africa to determine how much the impact altered the path of the 525-foot (160-meter) asteroid around its companion, a much bigger space rock.
Before the impact, the moonlet took 11 hours and 55 minutes to circle its parent asteroid. Scientists had anticipated shaving off 10 minutes, but NASA said the impact shortened the asteroid's orbit by 32 minutes.
The team's scientists said the amount of debris apparently played a role in the outcome. The impact may also have left Dimorphos wobbling a bit, said NASA program scientist Tom Statler. That may affect the orbit, but it will never go back to its original location, he noted.
Launched last year, the vending machine-size Dart was destroyed when it slammed into the asteroid 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) away at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph).
Johns Hopkins APL built and operated the DART spacecraft and manages the DART mission for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office as a project of the agency's Planetary Missions Program Office.
Neither Dimorphos nor Didymos poses any hazard to Earth before or after DART’s controlled collision with Dimorphos, NASA added.
