Yesterday evening, September 26, 2022, NASA successfully crashed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) with Dimorphos, a moon of the minor-planet asteroid Didymos. The test is designed to determine if a spacecraft can deflect an asteroid via a transfer of momentum, as part of a planetary defense against near-Earth objects. Dimorphos was chosen since it does not pose a threat to Earth.
The project began as a collaboration between NASA and ESA, named Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) involving two separate spacecraft. The ESA spacecraft AIM was to have launched in December 2020 but the project was cancelled. It has been replaced by Hera to study the results of DART's impact on Dimorphos. Hera is expected to arrive in the Didymos system in 2026.
Dimorphos has a diameter of about 560 feet and was discovered in 2003.
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