[ExI] NASA Deflects Asteroid

[Stuart LaForge]

In September 2022, NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) 
spacecraft ejected a smaller sensor drone spacecraft before crashing 
headlong into Dimorphos, the small 160 m satellite of a larger 780 m NEO 
named Didymous. The mission was a test to see if we could use a 
spacecraft impact to deflect the trajectory of an oncoming asteroid for 
obvious reasons.

The mission succeeded in changing the orbit of Dimorphos around its 
primary Didymous by shortening its orbital period by 22 min, however in 
the process several boulders were dislodged that had three times the 
momentum of the spacecraft, thus changing the orbit in an unpredicted 
fashion.

Still seems like progress to me. Here is the complete story from 
University of Maryland:

https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/news/massive-boulders-ejected-during-dart-mission-complicate-future-asteroid-deflection

Here is a link to the footage from the camera craft that got ejected 
prior to impact. The footage starts after the impact so in the beginning 
the target Dimorphos is hidden from view by the bright starburst pattern 
of ejecta. The large bright object to the right is the larger asteroid 
Didymous.

https://04533034747756402167.googlegroups.com/attach/3526c3d9b8c0/Dart_Mission.mp4?part=0.1&view=1&vt=ANaJVrGH6Ij9hkE4Gu30Svb94VlWxJ7cw0KGVP3TL6LKj6vLuaSSOcunEPoEoNV7EM9__YLZwhNms0iL3WAfobWRIMcG2jKRmMcwMJWDb3NG88zNPuW2Ns0

Google also made a cute easter-egg that happens if you search for "DART 
mission".

Stuart LaForge