While NASA's DART mission in 2022 was able to redirect killer asteroids away from Earth, there were apparently unintended consequences that could threaten the planet.
Asteroid Collision Created 37 New Space Rocks
Some Italian astronomers discovered that when the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft smashed into Asteroid Dimorphos and changed its course, this actually led to a cloud of 37 new space rocks that shoots towards the Red Planet.
If one of the rocks were to crash into the planet, a crater that is roughly 200 to 300 meters wide could be created.
The astronomers also warned that if NASA has to make an asteroid change its collision trajectory with Earth in the future, it is important to think where the debris of the massive crash would go, as it could still end up hitting Earth. They urge that future missions that involve interactions with the surface material of an asteroid need to be planned carefully.
As for the 37 new rocks, they may potentially collide with Mars. The boulders span between four to seven meters in length.
According to observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope, these rocks escaped the gravity of the Dimorphos and Didymos pair. They took a different path from the dust and rock tail, spanning 6,000 miles, that the impact created.
Such findings were published in a preprint server.
NASA DART Mission
As part of the DART mission, the agency made use of an uncrewed spacecraft to crash into asteroid Dimorphos at a speed of 14,00 miles per hour. This was done in attempts to see if a space boulder could be pushed off its trajectory and orbit.
Scientists were able to confirm in the coming weeks that their attempt worked. The kinetic impact, which refers to when one thing smashes into another object, was able to change the orbit of the asteroid in space. This method is one of the potential strategies that the agency would employ if an asteroid poses risk to life on Earth.
After this collision, the asteroid Dimorphos orbiting Didymos, a larger asteroid, in 11 hours and 23 minutes. This is 32 minutes less compared to the time it took prior to the crash.
Though the impact apparently yielded collateral damage, the researchers note that findings still show that the mission was successful in asteroid deflection, since it was able to change Dimorphos' orbital period and it did not produce any other rock that could crash into Earth. It marked the first time in history that humans were able to successfully and intentionally change a celestial object's movement.
The test serves as proof that asteroids can be knocked out of their course in order to prevent them from bringing destruction to the planet.
A spacecraft of the European Space Agency is also scheduled to intersect with Dimorphos in 2026 to learn more about the effects of the DART impact.
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