discussion NASA declares asteroid redirect test mission a success

[mystery]

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.
 

Prior to DART’s impact, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its larger parent asteroid, Didymos. Since DART’s intentional collision with Dimorphos on Sept. 26, astronomers have been using telescopes on Earth to measure how much that time has changed.
Now, the investigation team has confirmed the spacecraft’s impact altered Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes, shortening the 11 hour and 55-minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes. This measurement has a margin of uncertainty of approximately plus or minus 2 minutes.
 

Before its encounter, NASA had defined a minimum successful orbit period change of Dimorphos as change of 73 seconds or more. This early data show DART surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times.  
 

“This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART’s impact with its target asteroid” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “As new data come in each day, astronomers will be able to better assess whether, and how, a mission like DART could be used in the future to help protect Earth from a collision with an asteroid if we ever discover one headed our way.”

 

[305]

Amazing

 

[Karla Cabello]

 

[magazine]

Oh, that's it? Okay. Good for her, I guess.

[FightForTanas]

And here I thought the asteroid would hit any day and end our misery.  

[TROJAN]

Those asteroids won’t be ******* with us anytime soon 

[gatito]

ariana's don't look up inspired

[Stuart]

[Bloodflowers.]

We are so advanced in our technology yet so far behind from serious business at the same time

[Protocol]

'Deep Impact' its impact

[Pop Art]

10 hours ago, Bloodflowers. said:

We are so advanced in our technology yet so far behind from serious business at the same time

I was thinking about the same thing earlier. Sometimes it feels like we're pretty advanced and yet to hear them say "this marks humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object" is kinda shocking. Like...it doesn't feel like it should be a big deal but it is because we finally JUST did that for the first time now.  I feel like advancement in space technology/infrastructure/etcetera has slowed down significantly since the 20th century.