Extract from ABC News
NASA has successfully smashed a spaceship into an asteroid in an attempt to move an asteroid in space.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test [DART] was a world-first full-scale mission to trial technology for protecting Earth from potential asteroid collisions.
But what did we learn from the mission and what happens next?
Did it work?
We know that DART smashed directly into the asteroid Dimorphos — the impact was immediately obvious with DART's radio signal abruptly ceasing.
What's yet to be proven is how much the collision actually shifted the moonlet's orbital track.
It will be days or even weeks to determine how much the asteroid’s path was changed, with telescopes needed to track and verify the new orbit.
The anticipated orbital shift of 1 per cent might not sound like much, but scientists have stressed it would amount to a significant change over years.
Photos of the impact were taken by a mini satellite, which was a few minutes behind. The Italian CubeSat was released from DART two weeks ago for this purpose.
What did we learn?
As the next few months pass we'll learn more about the impact this mission actually had on the asteroid, but DART successfully hit its target, which is humanity's first attempt at moving another celestial body.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington said the mission is globally unifying.
“Now we know we can aim a spacecraft with the precision needed to impact even a small body in space," Dr Zurbuchen said.
"Just a small change in its speed is all we need to make a significant difference in the path an asteroid travels.”
DART has demonstrated that "we are no longer powerless to prevent this type of natural disaster," Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defence Officer said.
How much did it cost?
NASA has put the entire cost of the DART project at $US330 million ($487.5 million).
This is well below many of the space agency's most ambitious science missions.
Why did NASA do this?
Space engineers and planetary defence experts want to know more about how to deflect asteroids in the event that one is ever discovered on a collision course with Earth.
DART is the first full-scale mission to test this technology.
Rebecca Allen, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology, said the mission will help determine how much kinetic impact is needed to measurably change the orbit of an asteroid.
"What's incredible for us astronomers, we want to know planetary defence," Dr Allen said.
"This vending-sized machine spacecraft, will it have enough kinetic impact to drastically or really measurably change the orbit of this asteroid? That's what we're trying to learn.
"The location, with where it impacted is important and speed and size of the DART spacecraft are also factors there."
What happens next?
Elena Adams, DART Mission Systems Engineer said Dimorphos will be monitored over the next few months.
“Over the next two months we’re going to see more information from the investigation team on what what period change did we actually make,” Dr Adams said.
“That’s our number two goal, number one was hit the asteroid, which we’ve done but now number two is really measure that period change and characterise how much we actually put out.”
Jonti Horner, Professor of Astrophysics and a Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland said there will be plenty to learn from this mission.
"It's an incredible achievement, and in the weeks and months to come, we will learn a huge amount about asteroids, and about our capacity to deflect them, as a direct result of this amazing mission," he said.
"I can't wait to see the follow-up images from the Italian CubeSats that were flying past Dimorphos at the time of the impact."
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