A little over two weeks ago, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impacted Dimorphos, a small asteroid moon of the larger asteroid Didymos, in an attempt to deflect its orbit. Yesterday, NASA confirmed that the impact changed Dimorphos's orbit from 11 h 55 min to 11 h 23 min, a total of 32 minutes. The director of NASA said the result of the impact slowed Dimorphos's orbit, but NASA press release states that its orbit has been shortened, i.e. faster.
This confirms that NASA has the ability to change the course of an asteroid should one threaten Earth in the future. act
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