Science data confirm kinetic impact as effective planetary defense method

LOS ANGELES, March 1 (Xinhua) -- New science results published on Wednesday have confirmed that NASA's asteroid deflection technology can be an effective way to change the orbit of an asteroid, should there ever be a threat.

Launched from Earth on Nov. 24 of 2021, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully impacted its target asteroid, Dimorphos, on Sept. 26 last year. The impact altered the orbit of the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos by 33 minutes, according to NASA.

While Dimorphos posed no hazard to Earth, DART's successful collision with the asteroid demonstrated one method of asteroid deflection using "kinetic impactor" technology.

"Kinetic impactor" means smashing a thing into another thing - in this case, a spacecraft into an asteroid, according to NASA.

Immediately following DART's impact, the mission team started analyzing the data collected from the world's first planetary defense test mission.

The team, led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, found that a kinetic impactor mission like DART can be effective in altering the trajectory of an asteroid, a big step toward the goal of preventing future asteroid strikes on Earth.

The findings were published Wednesday in four papers in the journal Nature.

"These findings add to our fundamental understanding of asteroids and build a foundation for how humanity can defend Earth from a potentially hazardous asteroid by altering its course," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.