Kinetic asteroid deflection (DART)
Desviación de un asteroide por impacto cinético (DART)
- Date
- 2022 · confidence high
- Place
- Johns Hopkins APL, Laurel, Maryland, United States; impact on Dimorphos
- Credited to
- NASA and Johns Hopkins APL, 26 September 2022
- Field
- Movement
What it is
The first test of planetary defence: a probe struck the moon of the asteroid Didymos and shortened its orbit by 32 minutes. It demonstrated that humanity can alter the trajectory of a celestial body.
What it led to
- Planetary defence programmes and ESA's Hera mission
- The systematic cataloguing of near-Earth objects
- Autonomous impact navigation
Built on
- NEAR Shoemaker: first orbit and landing at an asteroid (Eros)12 de febrero de 2001
- Deep Impact and Hayabusa probes
- autonomous navigation
Made possible
- Hera mission
- operational planetary defence