Last month’s intentional crash of NASA’s DART spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos was historic. Space geeks everywhere on earth, had their telescopes trained on the NASA test. It may have been the most photographed space event in history. And space experts are still evaluating the results.
On Sept. 26, NASA crashed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test aka DART spacecraft traveling at 14,000 miles an hour into Dimorphos. It took 10 months for DART to travel to the asteroid’s surface to crash.
Astronomers captured images of an estimated 6,200-mile comet-like trail. The impact from the collision caused tons of space dust and debris to be blown off the surface of the asteroid.
The live-streamed event took place 6.8 million miles from Earth, but the space scientists had a front-row seat.
The DART test was designed to see if the asteroid could be pushed off orbit. It was in essence a planetary defense test. And they were testing the possibility of deflecting dangerous space rocks that may be set on a collision course for Earth in the future.
Space geeks continue to investigate
NASA’s mission cost $325 million. And it was a collaborative effort. Astronomers, NASA scientists, and space geeks everywhere are involved.
