NASA's Spacecraft DART Successfully Collides With Asteroid

Hurtling through the solar system at hypersonic speed on Monday, NASA's DART spacecraft slammed itself into a distant asteroid in a test of the world's first planetary defense system.

A NASA spacecraft intentionally collided with an asteroid in humanity's first test of planetary defense.

The collision occurred at 7:14 pm. ET to cheers for the expedition team in Laurel, Maryland. The DART mission, or Double Asteroid Redirection Test, launched 10 months ago.

While the asteroid Demorphos,

Not in danger of impacting Earth, this demo could outline how to disperse space rocks that could pose a threat to Earth in the future.

“We are about to enter a new era for humanity, an era in which we will likely have the ability to protect ourselves from something like a dangerous and dangerous asteroid impact,” said Laurie Glaese.

Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA.

“What a wonderful thing. We didn't have this ability before."

At the time of the collision, Didymus and Demorphos were relatively close to Earth - 6.8 million miles (11 million km) apart. The team estimates that the spacecraft collided with the asteroid about 55 feet (17 meters) from the center of the space rock.

The aim of the spacecraft in addition to the effect,

is the effect on the asteroid's movement in space, but members of the DART team say it will take about two months for scientists to determine whether or not the asteroid's orbit has changed.

Demorphos is a small asteroid moon orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. NASA officials said that the asteroid system does not pose any threat to Earth,

making it an ideal target for kinetic impact testing -

Which may be necessary if an asteroid is on its way to hitting Earth.

The event was the agency's first full-scale demonstration of a deflector technology that could protect the planet.

"For the first time ever, we will measurably change the orbit of a celestial body in the universe," said Robert Brown, head of the space exploration sector at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Interactive: A spacecraft journey to test Earth's defenses

NEOs are asteroids and comets that have orbits that place them within 30 million miles (48.3 million km) of Earth. NEO danger detection, or near-Earth objects,

that can cause significant harm is a primary focus of NASA and other space organizations around the world.

collision course

Didymus was discovered by astronomers more than two decades ago.

It means "twin" in Greek. Didymus is about 2,560 feet (780 meters) wide.

Meanwhile, Demorphos is 525 feet (160 meters) in diameter, and its name means "two shapes."

Images taken by the Didymos Reconnaissance reconnaissance vehicle and the Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation helped DART orient itself to face the young moon.

Nancy Chabot said:

Planetary scientist and DART coordination leader at the Applied Physics Laboratory.

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